Australian cricketer Tim Paine has stepped down as Australian men’s Test captain after stating he was involved in a sexting scandal. Paine revealed he was involved in a text exchange with a colleague nearly four years ago.
Paine has been the skipper of the Australian team from 2018 but had to give up his position after accepting that he has sent lewd pictures to a female colleague.
- Tim Paine sent the text messages to a Cricket employee in 2017, before the first ashes Test of that summer
- He became the captain of the Australian team in March 2018 after the Cape Town sandpaper scandal.
- The Australian cricket board acknowledged these texts when a woman raised a voice, few months after Tim Paine took on the captaincy.
- A Cricket Australia investigation was held, which Paine says “exonerated” him
- In late 2021, Paine states the texts were made public by the media, forcing him to resign as Test captain
Tim Paine said “It’s an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket. As a background on my decision, nearly four years ago I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague. At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in. That investigation and a Cricket Tasmania HR investigation at the same time found that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia code of conduct.”
Paine held a press conference at 2.30 pm on Friday where he apologised and announced about his resignation.
He sent the lewd messages were sent on November 22 and 23, 2017. Cricket Australia wasn’t aware of the messages until Paine was appointed as the Test captain in March 2018 after the ball-tampering scandal.
Cricket Australia is likely to announce the name of the next captain, soon.
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