Spin

Spin is in.

By Casey O'Connor

With only a little over a week until the first ball of the Ashes, it’s fair to say that once again Cricket has been hijacked by scandal.

Tim Paine’s shock resignation as Captain and the reason behind it caught everyone unaware. It really was a “what the…” moment.

I will not make comment on the “events” that led to his decision – there has, for my money, been far too much of that already and it cannot have been helpful to any of the parties involved.

I am however intrigued at the timing, given there have been many opportunities to bring this matter to the public’s attention long before this and given that he was exonerated – should that have been necessary?

Although things look straight forward from what we know, I can’t help but wonder if there is a great deal that we do not know and never will. I have to wonder if there are forces at play that we know nothing of. Call me a cynic.

While I will keep my opinions, I will say that I feel Paine should be given the opportunity to be the man behind the stumps in the Gabba Test, for no other reason than I think he is the best keeper for the job.

With regard to the captaincy, it seems to me that the rhetoric around Pat Cummins should be tempered. He is being touted as the face of Australian Cricket – squeaky clean boy next door image – hmm are we setting Cummins and ourselves up to fail again. I am not for one second suggesting there are skeletons in Pat Cummins closet.

It seems to me that we set ourselves up to fail when statements like these are bandied about and subsequently, we discover the person we have put on the pedestal, like the rest of us has feet of clay. Sometimes that is reassuring other times disappointing.

But please can we just play cricket and of course beat the POMS.

Casey