Job keeper: Paine faces end of the road

The captaincy may not be the only thing stripped of Tim Paine as concern turns toward his selection in the first Test.

Tim Paine leaves Queenborough Oval Hobart on Saturday. Picture: Chris Kidd

The captaincy may not be the only thing stripped of Tim Paine as concern turns toward his selection in the first Test.

His greatest advocate in years past, Brad Haddin, and others including Shane Warne both questioning whether he should play in Brisbane. If he doesn’t his Test career is over.

Paine has not played a game since last summer and is rehabilitating from neck surgery. A return to cricket for his University club in Hobart was ruined by rain on Saturday and the only practice the fallen former captain got was running the media’s gauntlet once play was abandoned.

He is due to play a second XI game on Monday, but the weather looks similarly threatening. Tasmania has a one-day match on Friday but the only other game available to the wicketkeeper is the three-day practice match between the Australia and Australia A squads in Hobart.

The heads of cricket in Australia held a controversial press conference on Saturday whose message appeared to be that the board was wrong to exonerate Paine in 2018 and that they believe he should not be captain — basically if he had not quit they would have sacked him.

Paine has made it clear he quit the captaincy because he believed it was in the best interests of the team which would have been dogged by the sexting scandal through the Ashes.

Acting chairman Richard Freudenstein said it would be up to selectors whether the 36-year-old is selected for the first Ashes Test starting December 8 but the board was “comfortable” with him remaining in the side.

The decision will be made by Justin Langer, George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide. It may be the hardest call the three have had to make. When Haddin was not recalled to the side during the 2015 Ashes after skipping a Test because his daughter was ill, it caused rumblings in the dressing room from teammates upset by the lack of loyalty.

Paine averaged 41 in last year’s Border-Gavaskar series but had a particularly bad day behind the stumps in the SCG Test match.

The hardest job for an Australian gloveman is keeping to Nathan Lyon whose bounce and subtle variation make the job difficult.

Haddin pushed for Paine to replace him as wicketkeeper ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes series and is one of the better judges of wicketkeepers in the country, but writing on the new Code sports subscription website he says match fitness is a significant concern.

“Paine, at his best, is still the leading gloveman not just in Australia, but around the world. He is a great technician and has proven that over a long period of time, especially on days four and five standing up to the sticks for Nathan Lyon,” Haddin told Code.

“If he is physically ready to play, I think the selectors will stick with him for the Ashes.

“But the ‘if’ is significant. The big concern for me is that he has hardly played any cricket since last summer, he is returning from serious neck surgery and he’s running out of time to play meaningful cricket before the first Test.

“It’s difficult to pick up the gloves after a period like that and immediately find your rhythm, so he will have to assess that.

“I’ve read reports about him being a ‘distraction’ because of the drama around his captaincy resignation, but I don’t think he would’ve elected to play on if he felt that was going to be an issue.

“To me, heading into a marquee event like the Ashes, the question is whether he is physically able to perform with the gloves at the top level.”

Haddin believes Alex Carey is “fractionally” ahead of Josh Inglis, both of whom are in the Australia A squad and would be ready to play in Brisbane if required.

Warne, who was involved in his own scandals and stripped of the vice-captaincy due to his off-field behaviour, was of the belief Paine should not play even before the sexting scandal broke on Friday.

“When you take a close look at his position at No.7 in the batting order, and the other candidates to play that role, the other standout wicketkeeper-batsmen around the country and the runs they were making, there was a groundswell of people starting to ask if Tim Paine was … the best option,” Warne wrote in the Herald Sun.

“For me the time is right to make Pat Cummins captain, something I thought even before the events of Friday unfolded.

“The poster boy, respected and loved the world over, Pat Cummins should now be named captain, and either Matt Wade, Josh Inglis or Alex Carey should get their chance to come in and play Paine’s role in the Test team.”