HOBART, Nov 19: Australian Test captain Tim Paine on Friday stepped down from the post after being investigated by Cricket Australia over sending a co-worker an explicit image of himself along with a string of lewd messages.
The development comes weeks ahead of the Ashes series against old foes England. Reports claimed a Cricket Tasmania female employee was offended by “Mr Paine’s sexually explicit, unwelcome and unsolicited photograph of his genitals in addition to the graphic sexual comments.”
Paine will, however, continue to be a part of the Australian team.
“It’s an incredibly difficult decision but the right one for me, my family and cricket,” Paine said.
“Although exonerated I deeply regretted in incident at a time and I do so today. I spoke to my wife and family at a time and enormously grateful for their forgiveness and support,” he added.
Extending its support to Paine, the Australian Cricketers’ Association on Friday said it was “saddened” that the wicketkeeper “felt the need to resign” as the team’s Test captain.
“While respecting the decision made by Tim Paine, the ACA is saddened that he felt the need to resign from the captaincy of the Australian Test team,” the ACA said in statement.
“While regrettable, this was an historical mistake that was a private matter between consenting individuals. Tim fully cooperated in an integrity investigation by Cricket Australia in 2018 in which he was exonerated.”
“Tim humbly recognised the respect that comes with the Australian captaincy and his resignation reflects the esteem in which he held the role that he served so well in a trying period for Australian cricket,” ACA stated. (PTI)
