Tim Paine confident of Steve Smith and David Warner playing important role in retaining Ashes
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Tim Paine has stated that he is confident that Steve Smith and David Warner making it big in the upcoming Ashes after their return to international cricket. He has also added that the last summer gave them a lot of lessons and they can build on it to form a formidable side in the future.
Smith and Warner’s bans for their role in trying to alter the ball in South Africa expire late next month and they are expected to return to the national set-up as soon as possible. Australian skipper Tim Paine is of the opinion that the duo can help the current crop of batsmen look better when they mark their return to the Aussie side after two months from now, and eventually after a year of the ball tampering Saga.
“I think everyone to a degree has to earn their stripes. I think those two have got plenty of runs in the bank if you like. Look I see us going to the Ashes and them having a huge part in us winning the series. That’s how I see how important they are to this team. We know how good they are and hopefully once their bans are up they’ll be welcomed back and they will win Test matches as they did before,” Paine was quoted as saying by AFP.
On giving a fair bit of idea of what the Ashes team will look like, Paine emphasized basically on people doing well during this summer will be given a good space to perform.
“What we have seen over this summer is we are starting to build a squad with plenty of depth. There’s probably anywhere between 16 and 25 players we think are now in the mix, which is a really good place to be.”
For Paine's perspective heading to England, and as skipper, is something that had been on his mind for months.
“I’ve been dreaming about it actually. I’m happy now that we’ve got this (Sri Lanka series) out of the way and I can put everything into it because every Australian cricketer can’t wait to go and play an Ashes series, particularly in England.”
The ball-tampering scandal which happened last year in South Africa resulted in year-long bans for Smith and Warner and nine months in exile for Cameron Bancroft, which forced Australia to change its cricketing culture and toning down its aggressive sledging. Paine said he was “really proud of the way we have gone about it”.
“We spoke at the start of the summer that our main priority was to win back the respect of our Australian public and cricket fans. Sitting here now, I think we’ve gone a long way to doing that,” he added.
