By Betsefy
Tim Paine has announced that he is stepping down as Australia captain with immediate effect, a consequence of an historical investigation into texts sent to a female colleague.
The 36-year-old had been expected to lead his country against England during the upcoming Ashes series, which starts on December 8.
However, upon learning that a number of texts sent to a female colleague at Cricket Tasmania were to be published, Paine has made the decision to resign as skipper.
At a press conference on Friday, Paine said that he had been “exonerated” during a misconduct investigation, but acknowledged that his actions in 2017 did “not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community.”
Cricket Tasmania have said that the incident occurred in November of that year, the same month that Paine made his first Test appearance for seven years.
Pat Cummins is expected to take over the captaincy over the coming days.
