George Bailey and Tim Paine to help rebuild Australian cricket behavioural standards

THE men who have helped steer Tasmanian cricket from backwater to powerhouse will play a key role in changing behaviour in Australia’s men’s team.

THE men who have helped steer Tasmanian cricket from backwater to powerhouse will now help charter behavioural standards for Australia’s men’s team.

Tigers captain George Bailey and Australian captain Tim Paine will be part of a player review in the wake of the ball-tampering debacle in South Africa that resulted in then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain Dave Warner being sacked from leadership roles and suspended along with opener Cam Bancroft.

Cricket Australia has announced the review will be led by former Test opener Rick McCosker and will also include Pat Cummins, Rachael Haynes, Shane Watson and the yet to be named men’s head coach.

Australian test cricket team captain Tim Paine in Hobart. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

They will be tasked to “consider a behavioural charter for the Australian men’s cricket teams that balances the performance demands of elite cricket with expectations of all Australians in regard to on and off-field role modelling.”

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The CA board has also announced The Ethics Centre will conduct a separate, independent organisational review as to whether “any wider cultural, organisational and/or governance issues within CA, and more broadly within Australian cricket, should be addressed to ensure these events never occur again, either on tour or whilst playing in Australia.”

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Speaking on Melbourne radio, CA chief executive James Sutherland said there had been no time line put on how long Paine, 33, would remain as national captain.

“The most important thing for him before the captaincy is his own performances,” Sutherland said on SEN radio.

George Bailey at the 2018 Allan Border Medal. Picture: GETTY

“We sometimes forget how difficult it is for a cricket captain when you are only one of 11 players and the intense scrutiny that comes from the game and the very objective way we can measure performances means there is a huge amount of pressure on a captain to continue to perform to justify their place in the team and also to take on all the responsibilities.

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“(It) is akin to basically being an AFL coach and an AFL captain at the same time.”

Sutherland said one of Paine’s major functions was to make Australians proud of their national cricket team again.

“That is very important,” he said.

“I know he’s thinking deeply about that.

“Even just leading inot that Test match where he officially took over in Johannesburg he wanted to make a statement and as you know the Australian players shook hands with all the South African players before the game, which is not something I’ve seen on a cricket field before.

“That was a statement of respect but also how we wanted his team to play the game. It is up to him. I think he’s got time to think about that.

“We don’t play Test cricket again until October when we go to the UAE to play Pakistan.

“But they are things not him alone but he with other leaders within the team will think about and I think there will be elements of that that come through in the review that will be under Rick McCosker’s charter that will allow further reflection on that as well.”