Would love to see Tim Paine play again, says Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley

Tim Paine had tearfully resigned as Australia’s Test captain and later decided to take a break from the game to focus on his mental-health, following the emergence of a texting scandal that involved a Cricket Tasmania female staff-member back in 2017. Pat Cummins replaced Paine in the leadership role days before the start of the first Ashes 2021-22 Test in Brisbane.

CA copped severe criticism in recent times over its handling of the issue, after Paine had been cleared of charges regarding the same back in 2018, before it all resurfaced last month. Cricket Tasmania chair Andrew Gaggin said that the treatment Paine received was the worst since Bill Lawry’s sacking as captain back during the 1970-71 Ashes. Lawry, who captained Australia in 25 Tests, had learned of him being sacked from the role via the media.

Hockley however, defended his organisation’s approach, as he extended his full-support to Paine.

"The head coach has been down to see him, we've had members of our high performance set up go down to Tassie. The Tasmanian cricket community have put their arms around him," Hockley said. 

While Hockley maintained that Paine had decided to step down as captain on his own terms, he labelled the decision as one "that the board felt was appropriate".