Tim Paine the best keeper in world cricket, admits Justin Langer
Head coach Justin Langer reckons that Tim Paine’s wicket-keeping ability is currently the best in the world in Australia's dominating summer of cricket. Langer also added that he was proud of the team for cementing their place in top three after the New Zealand series as they close in on India.
Though India have won all their series’ (except the drawn T20I series against South Africa), it is the ruthless performance of the Australian team that has earned more of the praises. But, in a summer that saw Marnus Labuschagne, who had a breakthrough season, take his game to a new level, with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head making giant leaps as cricketers, and the likes of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner and Nathan Lyon reinforcing their worth, it was the 34-year-old Paine that caught Langer’s eye.
"Highlight of the summer would be Tim Paine's captaincy and wicket-keeping. I could talk about every one of our players but I think Painey's leadership, strategically and tactically excellent. The way he took to the Test Championship, the way he wicket-kept, a few of his innings, I thought Painey was brilliant this summer. And of course Marnus was great too,” Langer said on Tuesday, reported Cricbuzz.
"Tim Paine is the best wicketkeeper in the world. His wicket-keeping this summer has been unbelievable. The fielding yesterday I think everyone who was watching was absolutely incredible. And it's actually led by the captain because of his incredibly high standard in the field," he said.
After returning from retaining the Ashes during England’s summer, Langer rated his team a 7 out of 10. Now, after the home summer, where they thrashed both Pakistan and New Zealand, that grading has gone up to 8.
"It's been a great summer, hasn't it? Really proud of the boys. We talked about a couple of things when we came back from the Ashes. One was cementing our place in the top three, I think we've done that. The second one was winning after winning. We had to get better at that. I think we did that right throughout the summer. Some really positive signs there, long may it continue," Langer said.
“We had our review of the summer earlier this morning and what's interesting and relevant is the continuity of the team as much as the balance of the team. We've been able to keep the guys together. We're still working towards having a great cricket team, but we've got a very good cricket team at the moment,” Langer added.
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