Spin king Shane Warne didn’t hold back in his assessment of Australian captain Tim Paine, who has had his right of reply.
Test captain Tim Paine opted to “let it go” after copping a huge shot from Australian great Shane Warne but was quick to point out the Covid challenges faced by current players were not something the spin king ever had to overcome.
Warne launched a scathing critique of a few Australian players earlier this week, including fast bowler Mitch Starc, and singled out Paine for having “a shocker” over the past 18 months as both skipper and a batsman.
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“Paine, he’s had a shocker the last couple of years as captain, tactically he’s been very poor, lost two series, can’t make a run,” Warne told Fox Sports.
“Our side’s not as great, this ‘almighty Australia’.”
Warne’s comments came ahead of an Ashes series set to be Paine’s last as captain as he looks to keep hold of the urn he and Australia retained in 2-2 series draw in England in 2019.
Paine said Warne was “very opinionated” but that was his job as a commentator, and he was entitled to say what he liked.
The Test captain, who is recovering from serious neck surgery and is yet to play a game a month out from the Ashes opener on December 8 at the Gabba, conceded Australia wasn’t at its best in last summer’s home loss to India.
But he also said playing through a worldwide pandemic presented “challenges” Warne and players from his era never had to endure, challenges that would impact Ashes preparation.
“We’re not hiding from the fact we haven’t played our best Test cricket, especially last summer. The summer before that we won 5-0,” Paine said.
“We’ve had very, very little Test cricket. There are some guys struggling for continuity and consistency. It can be difficult, this team has had some challenges that no other Australian team has had and we are fighting out way through them.
“We’re not saying we are the greatest Australian cricket team or we are dominant … we think we have plenty of improvement left. We also think our best cricket is right up there.
“We’ve got some challenges with guys being at a T20 World Cup, then coming home and doing two weeks quarantine in a hotel room without training and then having about eight days before the first Test.
“It’s going to be a challenge.”
But Paine was not going to get in to a war of words with Warne
“I’ll let it go. I’ve got some things I need to concentrate on first,” he told SEN.
“Warney is very opinionated and happy to give his opinion. His job is to critique us. I’ve worked in commentary in cricket and sometimes you have to give an opinion sometimes people might not like and might not agree with.
“That’s his opinion. We’ll let him have it for now. “
Originally published as ‘Shocker’: Tim Paine responds to Shane Warne’s take-down
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