Former Australian captain Tim Paine will make his comeback to top-level cricket on Thursday, after being named in Tasmania’s squad for the Sheffield Shield match with Queensland.
Paine hasn’t played a first class match since April 2021. He quit the Test captaincy on the eve of the 2021-22 Ashes series after revelations of a text message scandal dating back to 2017, and announced shortly after that he’d take an indefinite break from the game.
Paine turned out for his club side University on Sunday, taking a catch and scoring an unbeaten 20 in his side’s win over New Town in a one-day match.
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The 37-year-old wasn’t named in Tasmania’s list of 24 contracted players in May, but has been training with the squad as an uncontracted player.
“It was unanimous that everyone wanted one of the world’s best wicketkeepers in our side,” Tasmanian coach Jeff Vaughan said.
“Physically he’s probably in the greatest spot of his career, emotionally he’s sound.
“He’s ticked all of the boxes.”
Hobart also has an open spot in its BBL squad, with the club’s head of strategy, Ricky Ponting, keen for Paine to rejoin the Hurricanes, having played the last of his 42 matches in 2018.
Tasmania will be without injured off-season signing Billy Stanlake for the match, which will be played at the Gabba.
Queensland squad: Usman Khawaja (c), James Bazley, Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Blake Edwards, Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Mitchell Swepson.
Tasmania squad: Jackson Bird, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk (c), Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster.
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