Six months ago, if someone had said to me that Tim Paine would be appointed Australian captain during the tour to South Africa, I would have politely enquired as to what drugs they were on, and if I too could have some! Paine was all but finished as a cricketer at the start of the season. Matthew Wade had returned to his native Tasmania, effectively leaving Tim Paine out in the cold. A solid performance in a tour match against England saw the Oz selectors make the bold decision of drafting Paine into the Test XI, a move which turned out to be fortuitous, for both Paine and the Aussies.
Fast forward to this current disastrous tour of South Africa, and Tim Paine finds himself with the top job within the playing group. Appointed half way through a match amid arguably the biggest crisis in Australian cricket since the defections to the rebel team that toured South Africa during Apartheid, Tim Paine is likely to be the holder of the captaincy for two years, and possibly longer, given that Smith is banned from captaincy for 2 years. And there's no guarantee that Smith will captain Australia ever again. At 33, Paine might not be in the game for much longer, and given his run with injuries throughout his career, two more years could well be seen as wishful thinking.
The road ahead is going to be quite challenging for Paine. Not only does he need to unify the dressing room, he has a lot of cricket on the calendar.
5 ODI's away vs England
1 Test & 3 ODI's away vs Zimbabwe
2 Tests & 3 ODI's at home vs Bangladesh
5 ODI's away vs Pakistan
5 ODI's at home vs South Africa
4 Tests at home vs India
2 Tests & 3 ODI's at home vs Sri Lanka
5 ODI's away vs India
3 Tests away vs Pakistan
The World Cup in England
5 Tests away vs England
3 ODI's away vs New Zealand
3 Tests at home vs Pakistan
3 Tests & 3 ODI's vs West Indies at home
That's a pretty tough road ahead, especially with our two top run scorers out of the picture until the away Test series against Pakistan.
I've always liked Tim Paine, and wish him well. I just think that with our batting frailties as they are, the next 12 months and beyond look rather gloomy. Granted we have one of the best bowling attacks in the world, but we're simply not making enough runs for our bowlers to work with. Perhaps under Paine, we might see some batsmen rise to the challenge, but at present I'm not really sure who that is going to be. And if the results turn out to be as bad as I fear they might, the Paine reign might not last as long as I hope it does.