{"id":21174,"date":"2021-01-11T21:57:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T22:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=21174"},"modified":"2021-01-12T01:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:00:05","slug":"paines-humbling-apology-after-ugly-antics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=21174","title":{"rendered":"Paine's humbling apology after ugly antics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Paine has apologised for a "really poor game as leader" in the third Test – one that Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar says could spark the end of his Australian captaincy.<\/p>\n

Paine had a nasty verbal battle with Indian star Ravi Ashwin on day five at the SCG, as well as dropping three catches and setting questionable fields as the match ended in a draw, despite Australia's strong prospects of victory.<\/p>\n

Paine addressed his behaviour this morning after a torrent of criticism<\/a>, stepping up for a snap press conference.<\/p>\n

"I want to apologise for the way I went about things yesterday. I'm someone who prides themselves on the way I lead this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of the team," Paine said.<\/p>\n

"I let the pressure of the game get to me. It affected my mood and from there, it affected my performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Initially I reflected purely on my wicketkeeping. Last night I reflected on the whole game.<\/p>\n

"I've had a really poor game as a leader. I'm a captain who wants to enjoy the game and wants to play the game with a smile on their face. Yesterday I fell short of my expectations and our team's standards.<\/p>\n

"I'm human. I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday.<\/p>\n

"It's certainly not a reflection of the way I want to lead this team. We've set high standards over the last few months and yesterday was a blip on the radar and something that I felt that I needed to come out and address.<\/p>\n

"Bitterly disappointed with the way I went about it. I feel that my mood throughout probably the whole Test match was a bit off. The way I spoke to the umpires early on day two was also unacceptable.<\/p>\n

"I've got to cop that on the chin. It's not the way I want to lead this Australian team. It's certainly not a reflection of how I want to do it going forward.<\/p>\n

"I always talk to our players about playing this game on skill and not on emotion. Yesterday, as I said, fell short of my own standards and expectations.<\/p>\n

"I apologise to our fans and people who heard some of the things I said yesterday, it wasn't good enough and particularly from the leader of this team.<\/p>\n

"I'm really looking forward to getting to Brisbane and bouncing back and playing the game more like Tim Paine plays the game. Yesterday was a poor reflection of that and not something I want to be known for."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Paine also insisted that there was nothing sinister in top batsman Steve Smith seemingly scratching away the batting guard of India's Rishabh Pant during the final day.<\/p>\n

Smith was seen roughing up the crease area with his spikes, though he was also shadow batting – something that he does incessantly on and off the field.<\/p>\n

He said that Smith was dismayed by claims of unsportsmanlike behaviour – even "cheating"<\/a> from former England paceman Darren Gough.<\/p>\n

"Steve's quite upset about it. That's something Steve's done a lot. It's something we always have a laugh about because he just loves batting so much and even when he's out on the field he's shadow batting and marking centre," Paine said.<\/p>\n

"He actually does it a lot. I'm sure if people are happy to look back at the footage you'll see it happens probably more than once a Test match with Steve.<\/p>\n

"There's no way in the world he was trying to change Rishabh Pant's guard or anything like that. It's just one of Smithy's things that he does. Now that it's come up as it has it's something he might have to look at because of the perception of it."<\/p>\n

\"Paine<\/p>\n

Paine was installed as captain after Smith's reign was ended by the ball-tampering scandal. He has been credited with leading a major cleansing of the national team's culture, long marred by brazen hostility towards rivals.<\/p>\n

Indian great Gavaskar said that Paine had now brought major scrutiny on to his captaincy and might be facing the end of his reign.<\/p>\n

"It was unbefitting of a captain of a national team to be talking about something other than cricket," Gavaskar told India Today.<\/p>\n

"You want to have a go at the opposition, you talk about their cricket.<\/p>\n

"But when you talk about something else, it shows your frustration. It shows you are not able to bear the fact that the opposition is putting up a fight.<\/p>\n

"The Indians had the last laugh. R Ashwin had the last laugh.<\/p>\n

"I am not an Australian selector but his days as captain are numbered."<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Gavaskar suggested that a change could even could come after this series, saying that Paine's all-round leadership was found wanting in Sydney.<\/p>\n

"If you allow the Indian team to bat 130-odd overs without getting wickets \u2014 this is a very good Australian attack," he said.<\/p>\n

"Everything could have made a difference.<\/p>\n

"Paine was more interested in talking to the batsman rather than his field placing and bowling changes.<\/p>\n

"So, I won't be surprised if there is a change in the Australian captaincy after the series.<\/p>\n

"He was a little bit disturbed; his concentration was not there after that little episode."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Paine has apologised for a "really poor game as leader" in the third Test – one that Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar says could […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21176,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174\/revisions\/21176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}