ENG vs AUS: Tim Paine contemplating over ODI future following series debacle

Tim Paine has had a pretty eventful 2018 thus far. He was appointed as the Australian Test skipper, midway through the Cape Town Test in March owing to Steve Smith’s step down from the role. Thereafter, he was handed the ODI captaincy during the Aussie’s erstwhile series versus England. The series turned out to be a nightmare for him as his team slumped to a shambolic whitewash by 5-0.

The Brits turned out to be a tough nut to track as Paine and Co were shunted away with disdain. The highest ODI score of 481 was also notched against them courtesy of England’s rampant top order. Last night at the Old Trafford in Manchester, the Aussies had their opponents by the scruff of their necks, but Jos Buttler’s jaw-dropping century denied them from evading a clean sweep.

“I haven’t thought about it”- Paine on his ODI future

Paine’s own form with the bat was awful. He managed scores of 12,15,5,3 and 1 to finish with 36 runs in the series at a rather unmemorable average of 7.20. Following yesterday’s defeat, a mentally shattered Paine talked about how the drubbing hit them. The Tasmanian also lauded the bowlers for standing up to the task in the hour of need despite getting pushed back after the first innings.

“That one stung. Not as difficult as Trent Bridge [where England made a world-record 481-6] but we’ve certainly been taught a lesson by a world-class outfit. I thought we were in trouble, to be honest at the half-way mark. But our bowlers came out and committed to what we spoke about really well in that first hour we were out there,” Paine was quoted as saying by in the post-match press conference.

Paine also put forth his future endeavors with the team while not putting much load on his brain surrounding his retention of place in the ODI team. “I haven’t thought about it to be honest. All I know is I was coming here to do this series and I’ve said a few times before when you are my age it’s a bit foolish to look ahead.

Certainly, I am really looking forward to captaining the Test team and continuing how I have been playing in that format. But where I go with the rest of my cricket is something we will discuss in the coming weeks. If I’m honest, I’ve probably let the pressure get to me a bit this series. When you’re not performing things are hard at international level,” he added.

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