It’s been a whirlwind few months for wicketkeeper Tim Paine, who has found himself interim captain of the Australian cricket team just months after almost quitting cricket to pursue a job with equipment manufacturer, Kookaburra.
Paine’s success story echoes that of Olympic gold medalist, Steven Bradbury — another story of a bloke reaching the epitome of his game thanks to others completely fucking their shit.
While clearly trying to hold in emotions to deal with the whole Sandpaper Gate debacle, it was easy to see Paine was pretty stoked he didn’t succumb to selling bits of wood for a living.
“It’s been a horrible 24 hours … for some of the boys,” Paine said.
“I actually got a call from Steven [Bradbury] yesterday who went on about what it was like to watch the blokes in front of you hit the deck as you sail on through — it was comforting to hear from someone who’s been through it all.”
Up until 2010 and the following years when he managed to continuously shatter his right index finger, Paine was always dubbed as Australia’s future long-term keeper, with the potential to captain his country.
But after multiple surgeries, the acting skipper now lives with a robotic hand reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker’s, which he claims enables him to adequately control the force of Australian cricket.
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THE MANKAD 