Hobart: Cricket Tasmania Chairman Andrew Gaggin feels Cricket Australia (CA) should have backed Tim Paine as the former skipper has been "instrumental" in salvaging the reputation of the Australian side following the Sandpaper Gate fiasco.
According to cricket.com.au, Paine announced his resignation as Test skipper following revelations of a 'sexting' incident with a former Cricket Tasmania colleague in 2017. Cricket Australia (CA) has admitted that the governing body would have sacked Paine as a skipper if they would have been in charge in 2018.
But Gaggin hit out at Cricket Australia (CA) saying that the governing body has been "appalling" with their treatment towards Paine.
"In conversations I have had in recent days, it is clear the anger amongst the Tasmanian cricket community and the general public is palpable," ESPNcricinfo quoted Gaggin as saying.
"Tim Paine has been a beacon for Australian cricket over the past four years and instrumental in salvaging the reputation of the national team after the calamity of Cape Town.
"Yet, at a time when CA should have supported Tim, he was evidently regarded as dispensable. The treatment afforded to the Australian Test captain by CA has been appalling, and the worst since Bill Lawry 50 years ago," he added.
The Cricket Tasmania Chairman backed Paine and said the exchange of messages occurred between two mature adults consensually.
"The Cricket Tasmania Board reaffirmed its view that Paine should not have been put in a position where he felt the need to resign over an incident that was determined by an independent inquiry at the time to not be a breach of the Code of Conduct and was a consensual and private exchange that occurred between two mature adults and was not repeated," said Gaggin.
Following the resignation of Paine as Australia Test skipper, Cricket Australia (CA) informed that star batter Steve Smith is available for the role of captaincy.
