‘It’s no excuse’: Paine won't accept common narrative amid “disappointing” Aussie performance
Former Australia captain Tim Paine insists a long and gruelling summer is no excuse for Pat Cummins’ side, who are at risk of falling to New Zealand in the second Test.
A hectic schedule over the past 12 months is set to come to an end on Monday, when a result is expected for the second Trans-Tasman Test between the Aussies and Blackcaps.
Since June last year, the Aussies have won the World Test Championship against India, played a five-Test Ashes series, won the ODI World Cup, played in a controversial short-form series against India, played Pakistan and West Indies in the home Test summer and played a further nine white-ball games in the past two months before taking on the Kiwis across the ditch.
It's hard to remember a period of eight months as busy as the one Cummins and co. have embarked on. But it’s left them in significant trouble at Hagley Oval in the second Test and Paine believes his former side is clearly underperforming.
“I’m disappointed. We’re a better team than them and it was the same against the West Indies, there seems to be a bit of a pattern. Not scoring enough runs… you can’t always believe what they’re telling you but the leadership and coaching and captain and selectors say, ‘we have no concerns with our batters’. Well, I do now,” Paine said on SEN Tassie Breakfast.
“I think all of Australia does… there are more questions coming out of the last three or four Tests than answers, and we need to find some answers pretty quickly.
“We might not beat New Zealand, we’ve lost a Test to West Indies, we wouldn’t beat England if they were playing well with a full-strength side… India are certainly going to trouble us with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, so there are some concerns.
“Internally, they must be speaking about it.”
On the packed schedule, Paine said: “I don’t think it’s an excuse. It can’t be. It’s the highest level of cricket you can play, we can’t be using fatigue as an excuse.”
Paine also voiced concerns about Steve Smith’s position in the batting order, with four consecutive failures for the 34-year-old.
Smith solved the great conundrum when volunteering to go up the order and replace David Warner, freeing up Cameron Green to slot back in at no.4.
But with Australia not playing in the whites again until facing India in December, Paine is unconvinced the Aussies are better off with Smith up the top.
“To me, it looks a better side with him at no.4,” he said.
“Whether that means you’re not playing someone else in the middle or one of them, like a Travis Head, goes to open. I know Travis doesn’t want to do that… so maybe it’s time to go to the specialist opener because we’ve seen Steve get out to balls he doesn’t usually get out to.”
Australia is ranked no.2 in the ICC men's rankings, with New Zealand not far behind in fourth. The Kiwis have not defeated Australia in Test cricket on home soil in almost 30 years.
If they lose to the Blackcaps, they will have lost two of their seven tests this summer.