• Paine leaves cricket for ‘foreseeable future’

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    Tim Paine has put an abrupt end to the debate in Australia over whether he should take part in the Ashes.

    In a statement on Friday, Cricket Tasmania said: “Following discussions over the last 24 hours, Tim Paine has advised Cricket Tasmania that he will be taking a leave of absence from all forms of cricket for the foreseeable future.”

    The Tasmanian wicketkeeper quit as Australia Test captain a week ago over the public revelation of an exchange of sexually graphic text messages with a female colleague in 2017.

    But while stepping down as skipper, Paine said at the time he wanted to remain a “committed member” of the Australian Test side and was looking forward to the Ashes series against England.

    And there had been a groundswell of support to keep him in the team for the opening clash in Brisbane.

    Australia’s opener Marcus Harris said only on Wednesday that Paine had the full support of the Australian team and deserved to keep his place for the first Test.

    Paine took over as captain in March 2018 in the wake of the “Sandpaper-gate” scandal that rocked Australian cricket.

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    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt