Why would Tim Paine make career-ending choice?

Tim Paine worked hard to land his dream job, so why would an elite cricketer, who was married, make this career-ending choice?

What was Tim Paine thinking?

The wicketkeeper was back in the Australian side for the first time in seven years.

He had worked so hard to get there, overcoming a horrific broken index finger injury that required years of surgery.

Paine had almost walked away from the game that year to take up a job with Kookaburra except for the intervention of Ricky Ponting, who begged him to give it another go.

His controversial return to the Test team in 2017 was Lazarus-like – critics were calling it a “bombshell” selection as he was struggling to even get a game for Tasmania.

Australian captain Tim Paine would have walked away from the game for good if it weren’t for Ricky Ponting.

And then just hours before he was about to again take the field for Australia, he sent a series of lewd messages and a “dick pic” to a female Cricket Tasmania employee.

They had known each other, and had been texting for months.

But it was mainly about where to pick up his cricket bag or other errands – nothing like the explicit messages he sent that morning.

Paine said through tears on Friday that he was “deeply sorry” to his wife, his family, his teammates and cricket fans.

When he decided to press send on that image shortly before 7am on November 23, 2017, he set the timer on a bomb that blew up in his face.

No-one could have foreseen that just four months later he would become Australia’s captain in a Stephen Bradbury-like spill of the position with both Steve Smith and David Warner sacked for ball tampering.

But why would an elite cricketer, who was married, make that career-ending choice?

The woman, whom the Saturday Herald Sun has chosen not to name for legal reasons, complained to cricket authorities in June 2018 about the messages and inappropriate image after she left Cricket Tasmania.

She did not send an illicit image to Paine in return. The woman described Paine’s dick pic as unsolicited in correspondence with cricket bosses.

And the pair never had a physical relationship.

Paine was tipped as captain material back in 2010 by Steve Waugh.

It was simply those texts — which Paine said on reflection did not “meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain or the wider community.”

Paine was remorseful when he fronted the cameras.

He shed tears of the man who had lost not only his dream job, but the dream job for any cricketer across the country.

Steve Waugh had tipped him as captain material in 2010 — putting his name alongside Michael Clarke.

“The one who I think is interesting that I think about is probably Tim Paine. He gets a few mentions,” Waugh said when asked about who could be the next Australian captain.

Those leadership qualities were evident to Waugh when Paine was in his mid 20s, which makes the wicketkeeper’s moment of madness when was in his early 30s even more puzzling.

The language used in the text messages would make for hard reading for most people.

Paine on Friday first addressed the hurt he had done to his wife, who it is understood was informed about the incident when it was raised back in 2018.

Tim Paine and his son.

Tim Paine and his wife Bon.

He was also emotional when talking about his wider family, and how he had let them down.

“I’ve been blessed with a wonderful, loving and supportive family and it breaks my heart to know how much I have let them down,” he said through tears.

“They have always stood by me, been my most loyal fans and I am indebted to them for their support.”

Tim Paine’s text messages are not the first Australian cricket scandal.

The ball tampering in Cape Town and Trevor Chappell’s underarm bowling in the Australia v New Zealand one-dayer in 1981 are etched in cricket history.

The sent items on Shane Warne’s phone have also caused him more problems than most over the years — even after he stopped playing.

Paine’s indiscretion was surprising because he had been seen as the light on the hill for Australian cricket following the cheating in South Africa.

Now he’s hoping to prove himself on the field as a wicketkeeper, rather than a captain after walking away from every cricketers’ ultimate job.

“I will remain a committed member of the Australian cricket team and look forward with anticipation to what is a huge Ashes tour,” he said.

The question is, will the selectors give him another chance.

Originally published as Why would Tim Paine make career-ending choice?