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Allan Border's road map for Australia captain Tim Paine
Tim Paine took over the Australian team at a difficult time.Source: AFP
Jacob Kuriype from Fox Sports@jacobkuriype
August 21st, 2018 1:48 pm
ALLAN Border says a happy dressing room and a return to the "Australian way" should be top of the priority list for captain Tim Paine in the coming months.
Australia will return to playing duties in October, with two Tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates pencilled in. The series will see Paine chasing his first win in any format as Australia captain.
In fairness to the Tasmanian, he has taken charge of Australia in extremely difficult circumstances. Having only recently won his spot back in the Test XI, Paine was thrust into captaincy following the suspensions of skipper Steve Smith, deputy David Warner and rookie opener Cameron Bancroft for their roles in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.
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Border, whose 93 Tests as captain is the most by an Australian and second globally, says that while winning is important, getting the team to play the right brand of cricket in the UAE has to be a priority for Paine.
"The first thing I'd be addressing is that we play the Australian way and get back on track there," Border told foxsports.com.au. "Yes, we want to get back to playing tough uncompromising cricket but there's a spirit of play in the game. Australian teams have always done that really well. Tough cricket but fair. Maybe we've got a little bit away from that in the past."
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Allan Border: Australian teams have always done that really well. Tough cricket but fair. Maybe we've got a little bit away from.Source: Getty Images
Thirty-four years ago Border took over an Australian team in trouble for different reasons, reluctantly stepping up to the plate following the tearful resignation of Kim Hughes in 1984.
Having yo-yoed in and out of the captaincy, Hughes stepped down midway through a five-Test series against the West Indies. He had lost his past five Tests and was winless since the simultaneous retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh.
Like Paine, Border was dealt a hammering in his first match as captain, losing to the all-conquering West Indies team of 1984 by 191 runs. With steadfast resolve he helped put the Australian cricket team back on track, laying the groundwork for future captains Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh to capitalise on. But there was more than single-minded resolve to Australia's recuperation in the mid-80s.
Allan Border captained Australia 93 times in Test cricket.Source: News Corp Australia
"You have to get in that dressing room and get it to be a happy place," Border said. "Make sure the guys enjoy each other's company and really foster that team spirit.
"If you get that dressing room sorted out so it's a happy place for players to be it's a good solid start to how you play cricket out in the middle."
He says it will be up to Paine to leave his mark on the team, advising the rookie of 13 Tests but veteran of 101 first-class matches to trust himself to do the right thing.
"He's in charge now so he's got to put his own style of captaincy there. He can't be scared to back his own judgment. Even though he's basically a rookie Test cricketer, he's been around cricket for long enough to give it a gut feel. He will know what should and shouldn't be happening, so he should back his gut instinct."