Tim Paine sexting scandal: Mark Taylor has defended the decision of keeping the investigation quiet in 2018.
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Tim Paine stepped down as the captain of Australia due to a sexting scandal. He addressed a press conference in Hobart and announced his decision of stepping down from captaincy. A chat has been made public, where Paine was caught sexting with a former Tasmania cricket employee in 2017. Paine will not lead the side, but he will continue to be in the Ashes squad.
The scandal has created a stir in the Australian media. Some of the Australian cricketers have supported Paine, whereas some of them want him to retire from the game. There have been quite a few questions on Cricket Australia that why they did not take action in 2018 itself. Mark Taylor, was a CA board member in 2018 has finally spoken about the incident.
Tim Paine sexting scandal: Mark Taylor defends the decision of keeping investigating quiet in 2018
Taylor, who was a part of the committee in 2018 has revealed that the decision was taken after a lot of consultation. The idea was to maintain the integrity of the team, whereas to also look upon Tim Paine and his wife.
“A decision was taken by the integrity unit and supported by the board to keep this in house,” Taylor said to Nine’s sports.
“That decision was made not just on what is best for cricket, but what was best for Tim, Bonnie, and also the woman involved.”
On the eve of the Ashes, the cricketing world is in chaos.
Where to now for Tim Paine? 🤔
Who should be the next captain? 🏏
Mark Taylor answers the big questions we are all asking.
Sports Sunday | Channel 9 #9WWOS #Ashes pic.twitter.com/v2ovA21EXy
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) November 20, 2021
However, Richard Freudenstein, the current CA chairman has revealed that they would not have allowed Paine to stay as captain if they knew all the details.
“Once you have a private matter that has been subject to a full integrity unit investigation, it wouldn’t be normal for that to be part of the handover,” Freudenstein said.
“All I can say is the whole current Australian cricket board, including those members that were on the board in 2018, are very clear that if the same circumstances arose today, we would make a different decision.”
Cricket Australia has confirmed that Tim Paine will be available to play in the Ashes 2021. Paine has resigned as the captain, but the new captain is now revealed yet. Pat Cummins is the favourite for the job, whereas Steve Smith is also in the race.
