Tim Paine captaincy debate: Ian Chappell goes in to bat for under-fire incumbent

Plenty are calling for Tim Paine’s head, but Ian Chappell says the under-fire Aussie Test captain should be given more control over his side.

Ian Chappell believes Tim Paine must hold his place as Australian captain and should be given more authority to control his team’s destiny.

Paine has been put under a microscope after Australia surrendered what seemed an unlosable Test series to India, but he has gained high-powered support from one of cricket’s greatest ever leaders.

Chappell said Paine was the right personality to take over the reins of the Australian team after the ball tampering scandal in 2018 and is still the right man to take the side back to South Africa next month.

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Ian Chappell says it’s time to get off Tim Paine’s back. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s real issue, according to Chappell, is a broken way of thinking where the coaching staff and management hold as much influence on the team as the captain out in the middle.

Chappell told Cricket Australia’s exhaustive Argus Review back in 2011 that administrators had made it impossible for captains to do their job properly, a view he reiterated when Steve Smith was in charge with Darren Lehmann as coach.

The former Test captain warned a cycle of mediocrity will continue in Australian cricket as long as there are too many cooks involved in determining team tactics and making key-decisions and addresses which should be the sole domain of Paine as skipper.

“Tim needs to tell a few people to butt out, which is going to be harder to do now than if he’d done it at the start,” said Chappell.

“But you’ve only got to look back to Mark Taylor. Allan Border had allowed Bob Simpson to have enormous power, and when Mark took over, Simpson stepped forward to make a speech, and Mark just grabbed him by the arm and said, ‘I’ll handle this, Bob.’ And he was in charge.

“That’s the way it’s got to be.

“The reason I say that is when Tim woke up the next morning after the Test, he only had to look at what was going on. Was Justin Langer and Andrew McDonald and all the other management copping the flack?

“No, it was Tim. So as long as the wins and the losses (are in your name) and the flack is coming your way, you might as well have a fair say in what goes on.

“I’m not saying anything that I haven’t said before. Because I said it at the Argus Review.”

Chappell said that while Paine was not in the same category as Taylor or Michael Clarke in terms of on-field tactics, he was a fine captain who deserves to be backed in for the foreseeable future.

According to Chappell, Pat Cummins is already too overburdened as the “Dennis Lillee” style lion-heart of the team to take on more responsibility.

Chappell says Australia doesn’t need a new captain, but a change in theory which peels back the modern theories on high performance management and restores the skipper as the one true leader.

“I think he’s done a terrific job in the circumstances (in which he took over),” Chappell said of Paine.

“It’s a system that doesn’t work. Australia will always beat the lesser teams because the talent is there.

“But that’s not the idea. The idea is to beat the best teams and that’s a system that will cause you problems against the better teams as it has done in this series.”

Chappell described some of Australia’s day five tactics against India at the Gabba as “stupid”, but said in the modern game, there are too many voices involved which he believes complicates the feel and instinct a captain needs to have on-the-field.

“Every captain goes down the wrong path at some stage or other. It’s how quickly you see, ‘uh oh, this isn’t working, let’s go somewhere else,” said Chappell.

“Here in I think lies another problem with the system. They sit down and have all these meetings before every match and at night; ‘this is the plan, and this is what we’re going to do.’

“It’s not that complicated. How many times have you heard, hit the top of off with the odd bouncer?

“Pretty well that’s your team meeting. Obviously I’m over simplifying it but it’s not that complicated.

“What bothers me with a lot of modern captaincy is they go out there with these plans and the plan remains the plan. Now that’s not how captaincy works.

“You have a plan for everyone. We had a plan for Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, but blokes of that ability, they can spoil your plans in five minutes, so you better have somewhere else to go.

“Again trust me, you cannot captain the side from off the field. It’s too late by the time the message gets out there.”

REPLACE PAINE, BUT WITH WHO?

A former Test selector believes there’s not a clear enough candidate to replace Tim Paine as captain, but public support is rising for Steve Smith to make an incredible comeback to the post.

Test great Mark Waugh says if there was a standout option to take over the reins for next month’s tour of South Africa, then perhaps Paine’s time might be up following the chastening series loss to India.

As Australia ponders its leadership future, brother Steve Waugh, revealed on Tim Gilbert’s Afternoon Sport podcast, that he had been sought out by Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane for advice before a series which has instilled him forever as an Indian Test great, and may now spark debate that he should usurp Virat Kohli as permanent skipper.

But Mark Waugh said Paine too has largely done a good captain as a Test skipper and believes Australia’s best course of action in South Africa is to light a fire under the batting line-up and bowling attack who should be offering the Tasmanian more support.

Waugh said sub-par first innings totals and poor catching was Australia’s biggest issue against India, and also called on an bowling quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon with more than 1000 Test wickets between them to take more ownership of their own fields and tactics and help Paine out.

There’s a lack of candidates to replace Tim Paine as Test captain. Picture: AFP

A News Corp poll of more than 7000 readers voted 65 per cent to remove Paine as captain, with a separate poll of 2000 plus readers having Smith as the 51 per cent favourite to fill the void in the same country where he was sensationally sacked as skipper back in 2018.

Waugh agrees Smith is the only alternative to Paine, but in the short term believes the best option for Australia is to focus on putting more support around the 36-year-old.

“If he’s not captain, who are the choices? That’s the issue,” said Fox Cricket expert, Waugh.

“If there was a standout candidate I think it might be time for him to step down as captain, but I don’t see it. I just don’t see it. Unless Steve Smith is going to do it there’s no one else I can see who could be captain.

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“I think Paine has done a pretty good job and maybe he needs a bit more help on the field with the senior players, because it’s difficult to be a keeper and captain.

“I think under pressure we saw that affected his wicketkeeping, because he’s a very good wicketkeeper, he doesn’t drop many catches. But this series he has done when he’s been under pressure, trying to win the game.”

Waugh said his one criticism of Paine is that he’s perhaps a little on the conservative side and believes Australia suffered from a lack of aggression at key moments in the Gabba Test.

But that responsibility should not just fall on the captain alone.

“Tactically he could have been more aggressive. If he does have a weakness, he can be a bit on the conservative side sometimes when a gamble needs to be taken,” said Waugh.

“When Rishabh Pant comes in for example and they stick the field back straight away.

Former captain Steve Smith lost his post after the sandpapergate scandal. Picture: Getty Images

“But some of the bowlers need to take ownership of the fields they’re setting. Bowlers with 400 and 300 Test wickets, should be the ones demanding a certain field.

“They might be part of the issue as well. A bit conservative when need to attack. Even batting on the fourth day, we should have scored quicker.”

Waugh said aside from looking at a potential alternative to Matthew Wade at No.5 and Will Pucovski coming back at the top of the order, he can’t envisage any other changes to Australia’s XI in South Africa.

Steve Waugh told The Afternoon Sport podcast that Indian saviour Rahane – who galvanised a Kohli-less India with his calmer approach – is someone he has got to know well.

“There’s the difference between captaincy and leadership and maybe he did relax the boys a bit. They had nothing to lose,” said Steve Waugh.

Ajinkya Rahane picked the brain of Steve Waugh before the series. Picture: AFP

“I’ve had a bit to do with Rahane. He’s sought me out for a bit of guidance on leadership and I had a good chat to him (on a recent trip to India) and I also spoke to him in Australia.

“He’s a really good style of a fella. More in the Rahul David mould where he’s a quiet achiever, not big on the stand on top of the table making big speeches (style).

“He’s more one-on-one and behind the scenes and working with the players and showing belief.

“The side yesterday did relax and played incredible cricket for a bunch of players who no one expected to play well.”