New skipper Paine feels the pain of England’s mean machine
By ANITuesday, January 11, 2011
CANBERRA - Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper Tim Paine found out on Monday how hard it has been to captain a team against England.
Handed the captaincy to give selectors a chance to assess his credentials as a possible Test skipper, Paine performed serviceably but was hamstrung by an innocuous attack and some imperious batting from the visitors, most notably Ian Bell.
Unlike Clarke and Ricky Ponting, who endured lean runs with the bat against England, Paine - not a mainstay of the Test side - at least ensured one half of his job description was fulfilled, hitting a crisp 50 off 59 balls.
Paine admitted last night that he still had plenty of improvement ahead of him as a captain.
“As a keeper you’re always in the game anyway so you’re always under pressure,” The Age quoted Paine, as saying.
He added: “It was just one of those games, an opportunity for me to practice being in charge of a team.”(ANI)
