Cricket Tasmania board slams the treatment of Tim Paine

The Cricket Tasmania board has likened the treatment of Tim Paine over his sexting scandal to Bill Lawry being thrown under the bus 50 years ago.

Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine playing in a second XI match

The Cricket Tasmania board has criticised the “appalling” treatment of Tim Paine by Cricket Australia days after a former chair of the organisation did the same.

CT chair Andrew Gaggin is understood to have contacted CA acting chair Richard Freudenstein to make his position clear following a board meeting in Hobart on Monday night. “In conversations I have had in recent days, it is clear that the anger amongst the Tasmanian cricket community and general public is palpable,” Mr Gaggin said in a statement on behalf of the state board.

“Tim Paine has been a beacon for Australian cricket over the past four years and instrumental in salvaging the reputation of the nat­ional team after the calamity of Cape Town.

“Yet at a time when CA should have supported Tim, he was evidently regarded as dispensable. The treatment afforded to the Australian Test captain by Cricket Australia has been appalling, the worst since Bill Lawry over 50 years ago.

“The CT board reaffirmed its view that Paine should not have been put in a position where he felt the need to resign over an incident that was determined by an independent inquiry at the time to not be a breach of the code of conduct and was a consensual, private exchange … between two mature adults and was not repeated.”

Lawry’s unceremonious dumping during the 1970-71 Ashes following conflict with the board.

When Ian Chappell was appointed his successor, he vowed never to let the authorities do the same to him.

Cricket’s uncivil war with the island state comes after former chair Earl Eddings was forced to resign on the eve of last month’s annual general meeting after losing the support of NSW, Queensland and WA.

The latest issue has caused strains on the board, with the panel reported to be divided on how to deal with the situation.

Paine is playing a second XI match in Hobart as he strives to prove his fitness for the first Test. The wicket keeper took six catches on the first day and was out for a second-ball duck.

CA has set up three-step process to find candidates to replace Paine as Test captain. Selectors have referred names to be vetted by a second panel that includes Mr Freudenstein, director Mel Jones, chief executive Nick Hockley and George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide from the selection panel.

They will make a referral to the board.

Paine resigned on Friday under pressure from the board when the issue became public.

Mr Freudenstein also upset former chair David Peever with his assertion that the board would not clear Paine to continue as Mr Peever’s board, which contained two current directors, had.

Mr Peever said he was dis­appointed to see a chair criticising the former board and dis­appointed with the way it treated Paine. “Tim has been an incredible servant of the game and took over the leadership of the national team in the most difficult of circumstances. He has led with distinction for more than three years,” he said on Sunday. “He deserves Cricket Australia’s loyalty and not to be abandoned at this time.

“The event in question occurred four years ago and before Tim was appointed Australian captain. By his own admission, Tim has regretted those actions at that time but after investigation he was found not to have breached Cricket Australia’s code of conduct or any other rules, and the matter considered private and consensual between two adults.

“Why have a code of conduct if you are going to make up your own rules as you go?

“Cricket Australia’s decision seems knee jerk and unfortunately shows double standards.

“This issue has been doing the rounds in cricket circles for some years now. The current chairman has been on the board for two years and it is implausible he didn’t know about it. If he and his board felt so strongly about it, why wait until now to act?”