Paine plays down suggestions of becoming Oz captain

PERTH - Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine has shrugged off former captain Steve Waugh’s suggestion that he could be a captain-in-waiting for the Test team.

With doubts surrounding the future of current skipper Ricky Ponting, Waugh had earlier discussed the possibility of including two wicketkeeper-batsmen in the team with a view towards grooming either Paine or Brad Haddin as future Test captains.

Paine, however, emphasized that he was more focused on breaking back into the Test team. I suppose it’s nice to have guys like Steve Waugh say things like that. It’s nice to be spoken about in those terms by those types of people,” Fox Sports quoted Paine, as saying.

“People say what they want to say don’t they, so there’s not a lot I can do about that or control it.”

“I’m just going about my business trying to get back into the Australian side and if I can do that and play enough cricket for Australia to be considered for that job then I’d be very happy with it,” he added.

Paine will lead the Prime Minister’s XI against England at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on January 10.

The 26-year-old has been exceptional since making his Test debut earlier this year, averaging 36 in four Tests against Pakistan and India. (ANI)