Tim Paine resigns as Captain

Big Dog wrote:

Blackadder wrote:Paine reportedly taking a indefinite break from all forms of Cricket.

https://www.2gb.com/breaking-tim-paine-takes-leave-of-absence-from-all-forms-of-cricket/

The  Balmy Army will be pissed off having come up with a heap of new material & sledges.

Sure they’ll find enough for an Englishman called Inglis, if he plays…

Now that Paine is out of the side as well, regrettably and likely permanently, who’s his best replacement?

Carey - not even the best cricketer in his family, a fumbling backstop at best, whose batting form is currently dreadful, and who truly is just a one day slogger ... but pumped up by the press for years to undermine Paine’s position, so almost certain to get the gig. Was he born in NSW?

Wade - would not surprise totally if he gets the gig based on his experience and recent batting form, but his backstopping ability is “up there” with Carey’s. Still, he’s a more annoying presence behind the stumps than anyone else in the last 30 years, and if annoying Poms is the only remaining achievable goal in this series, he’s the man.

Inglis - the new darling of the press, one of the four best keepers in the WA side, does bat well on Shield roads, and is tidy behind the stumps on good wickets to WA ‘quicks’. .How he will fare at the Gabba to a wayward Mitch Starc and a bouncy Nathan Lyon is as yet unknown. He may be as successful in the role as Wayne B Phillips or Roger Woolley.

Handscomb - has been suggested in some quarters, apparently not as a joke. I’m tempted to leave it there. He cannot bat against a Test standard attack and hasn’t kept seriously even at Shield level for years. There are at least two better keepers in the Victorian squad (Gotch, Harper).  Might not have been suggested as a joke, but IMO we might as well get Travis Head to don the gloves.

Jimmy Peirson - always a very good keeper, a good tactician, local keeper for the Gabba where we start the series, he has always kept well, and he’s in the batting form of his life. Would not be out of place at all. Would actually be my pick under the circumstances. Selection would require imagination and courage. So - not a chance.

Peter Nevill - the forgotten man, always a very tidy keeper, lost his Test place as he lost batting form, and that batting form has continued to decline. The Brian Taber of 2021. Keeps very well, but not a chance now.

And then there are various batsmen around the country who have played as keepers at Shield level intermittently, some currently, and who might (like Wade and Handscomb discussed above) stick the Test gloves on at a pinch - Whiteman, Bancroft, Philippe, Nielsen, McDermott, Doran, Holt and Gilkes. Of these only Phillippe and Whiteman are in the sort of batting form that would tempt a selector, and neither have been keeping consistently.  Bancroft is unselectable while Warner and Smith are in the side even if he were batting well.

So ... Carey or Wade if there is a lack of courage at the selection table, Peirson would be a good choice, Inglis or Phillippe probably under strong consideration but IMO not ready and vulnerable to spectacular failure, akin to James Bracey with the bat and Kamran Akmal with the gloves.

I reckon they'll go with Carey which would be disappointing.

I'd like to see Inglis but I'd be happy with Peirson too.

At least we've got some decent young keepers coming through at last.

Yeah, Carey has waited patiently in the wings. They'll go with him.

His current form with the stick is a worry, but.

Not to mention his ‘form’ with the gloves, forever. Surely they won’t. I’d even prefer Wade.

just pick Inglis and let Carey/Wade do the ODI/T20 stuff

Carey made a century in the Marsh Cup match today. Possibly, that might seal the spot for him, not that it should be the case.

Seem to be pumping up the tyres of Carey for his Marsh cup form, quotes along the line of being in good form etc.

WideWally wrote:Carey made a century in the Marsh Cup match today. Possibly, that might seal the spot for him, not that it should be the case.

Yup.