James Willis is a senior producer and presenter for 2GB. Tune in next week as he discusses the Paine case on air.
Tim Paine has made the right call resigning as Australian captain.
Make no mistake – he wasn’t pushed off the edge, he did not want this embarrassing story becoming the focus on the eve of the Ashes. I don’t think there’s any way he could’ve stayed.
It’s now also in the best interests of the team for another wicketkeeper to be brought in.
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But, there are parts of this story that set a disturbing precedent in our media landscape. Firstly, spare a thought for Paine’s wife Bonnie and their family. I can only imagine the pain and hurt this saga is causing.
There is also an unnamed woman involved here who clearly feels this issue is unresolved.
It’s a mess – but the timeline here is important.
Paine had engaged in frequent communication with the unnamed woman for 12 months. As part of these exchanges – he sent an explicit picture to her in November 2017.
At this stage, Paine had only just completed a remarkable return to the Test team after years of injury and bad luck, and no complaint was made when the photo was sent.
Paine was then appointed Test captain in March 2018 after the ball tampering saga in South Africa, a few months before several things took place.
The lady involved, who was an employee of Cricket Tasmania, was charged with theft. It was only then she launched a complaint about Paine’s messages.
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Both Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania launched investigations.
Because of the “consensual nature” of the exchanges, Paine was exonerated. I have no doubt he’s been wondering over the last four years if this story would eventually come out.
Finally it has, after the texts were shopped around to several media outlets.
Let me repeat – now this is in the public space – he had to go. But Cricket Australia has a lot of explaining to do.
The code’s image was in the toilet after the events of Cape Town in 2018, and Paine as the new captain had promised to clean things up.
Now, Suddenly, he’s being investigated over claims of “unwarranted sexting”.
Even though he was cleared – it stinks of a cover up. The last thing CA needed at the time was revelations the new skipper had sent “unwelcome” R-Rated photos to a lady.
So it was kept quiet, which speaks volumes about the people in charge.
The people who created the toxic culture that resulted in players rubbing sandpaper on the ball.
Tim Paine and Justin Langer have since turned things around – the team’s culture has improved and in my opinion they are much easier to support.
Given the circumstances, I think Paine has done a remarkable job, and I believe he is a good person who has made a stupid decision.
But I think we can agree that if the text messages had been published at the time- Paine would’ve enjoyed one of the shortest captaincies ever.
It was a ticking time bomb that finally exploded on Friday.
He said in his statement that “on reflection my actions in 2017 don’t meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain.”
I’m sorry, but the entire thing stinks.
The cover up needs to be investigated. Cricket fans deserve better.
We have a team of outstanding individuals who continue to be dragged down by incompetence from the top.
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