Bipin Dani
Following the ball-tampering scandal in the Cape Town Test against South Africa (in 2018), Cricket Australia (CA) board did not seek the consent of the new captain Tim Paine but straightaway announced him as Smith’s replacement. This was revealed by Tim Paine himself.
Speaking at The Chappell Foundation’s Fourth Annual Dinner earlier this week, special guest, Australia’s Test captain Paine said, “If I’m totally honest, I sh*t myself,” he said of being hustled into the Australian captaincy in the dark days after the March 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.
Tim revealed he wasn’t asked – he was told – by the Cricket Australia board to replace Steve Smith, becoming Australia’s 46th Test captain.
“It’s probably lucky I wasn’t asked because I’m not sure I was that keen on it, at the time.”
At that point, Tim was just a handful of Tests back into the national team after seven years sidelined by competition for the wicketkeeping spot, a finger that kept on breaking, loss of batting form and finally an inclination to quit first-class cricket.
His previous captaincy experience, with Tasmania in 2010-14, wasn’t much comfort either.
“Totally honest, looking back I was a horrible captain, I was punchy, sort of aggressive …everything was everyone else’s fault, it wasn’t my fault”, he said in a newsletter.
Foundation patron and former prime minister John Howard, accompanied by wife Janette,was a highly popular guest at the function.
Foundation Chairman Darshak Mehta said the 2021 dinner had been a remarkable success, given the social distancing limits on guests and the short preparation time available. The 450 dinner guests raised around $300,000 for homeless young people,
