Tim Paine and wife, Bonnie Paine from Bonnie's Instagram account. Photo / Instagram
Tim Paine and wife, Bonnie Paine from Bonnie's Instagram account. Photo / Instagram
Tim Paine has revealed Australian men's cricket coach Justin Langer tried to convince him to remain captain, despite news of the wicketkeeper's lewd text message scandal about to emerge.
Paine revealed Langer's reaction to his bombshell resignation on Friday as one of many dramatic claims in an explosive tell-all interview with his wife Bonnie.
The couple opened up on the scandal that has rocked Australian cricket in an exclusive interview published in the Herald Sun and the Sunday Telegraph.
Paine resigned on the back of revelations he sent sexually charged texts to a former Cricket Tasmania colleague in November, 2017. He was found not to have breached the Cricket Australia code of conduct. Cricket Tasmania's human resources department also found Paine had not broken any workplace regulations, describing the exchange as consensual.
Paine stepped down of his own free will, however, Cricket Australia (CA) chairman Richard Freudenstein released a statement on Friday to convey that CA did not condone Paine's behaviour.
CA took no action against Paine following the investigations and also failed to take any action against Paine in 2019 when Freudenstein was first elected to his position and was informed about Paine's sexting scandal.
It has now emerged coach Langer even wanted Paine to remain in his position despite the scandal about to break.
Tim Paine and wife, Bonnie Paine from Bonnie's Instagram account. Photo / Instagram
It is one of many dramatic revelations in the interview, including:
— Bonnie feels it has been an "injustice" that the family has had to deal with the situation again in public years after claiming to have made their peace.
— Paine says he had failed to fully appreciate his marriage in the lead-up to the sexting exchange.
— He says the texting conversation with the Cricket Tasmania employee was a regular professional occurrence where they discussed "cricket matters" — before an "open-ended" text resulted in the conversation becoming "flirtatious".
— He says the lewd texts were only sent over an 18-hour period and did not happen again.
— He says he told Bonnie about the situation in May, 2018, after he had first been told by a Cricket Tasmania official that a complaint had been made.
— Paine will "potentially" end his test career at the end of the 2021-22 Ashes series, saying a victorious series against England this summer would be a "dream" way for his career to end; and
— Bonnie was dealing with the death of her father around the same time her husband told her about the text message exchange. She was also caring for daughter Milla — who was 1 at the time — and was pregnant with their second child Charlie, who is now 2.
Australian coach Justin Langer. Photo / Photosport
But perhaps the most stunning revelation in the interview is a claim Langer — and "plenty of others" — wanted Paine to lead the team this summer.
Paine insisted it was his decision to resign and he wasn't pushed.
"It was hard, but I know it's the right thing to do," he said.
"I feel completely gutted, but it's all my doing, and I know resigning is the right call.
"JL [Justin Langer] told me he's devastated.
"He was pretty firm that he wanted me to continue as captain, and again, once I explained to him the reasons that I thought resigning was the best thing to do, he was with me all the way.
"I've got messages from all my teammates saying they've got my back, and that we all make mistakes, and we move on," he added, insisting none of them had prior knowledge of the incident.
He says he is still "sick" at how the incident is impacting his family.
Asked why he took the text message exchange to a "flirtatious" level, he replied: "Maybe it's as simple as stupidity? Or an inflated ego? Or feeling needed or wanted, being flattering.
"Or that it was dangerous or risque? I don't know, I'm not sure. But I know I wish I hadn't, and it'll be a life of regret that I did."
He denied any physical relationship with the woman.
Tim Paine stepped down as Australia test captain on the eve of the Ashes. Photo / Getty
Paine admitted he always feared that the media would break the story and it had been a stressful time reliving the incident after he and wife Bonnie had worked through their issues.
"I feel terrible, to be honest. Although Bonnie and I have both known about all this for three years, to have it played out like this is really distressing, and upsetting, and I'm really embarrassed.
"I feel sick for Bonnie, and for my family more than anything else."
Bonnie also opened up on her decision to forgive her husband, despite admitting it was horrific" when they worked through the issue three years ago.
"I have a bit of sympathy for Tim. A lot actually. He and I went through all of this privately in 2018," she said.
"I feel a bit frustrated that it's all been brought up and aired in the public when we put it to bed years ago. I have moved forward since then. I feel like there is a lot of injustice for it being dragged out again."
Bonnie said she "was shocked" to find out about the sexting scandal, adding: "I don't claim to be perfect, but I was still completely rocked."
Bonnie also stressed the "need to forgive" in marriages and said she found it extremely tough to watch Paine's emotional press conference on Friday.
"It broke my heart to be honest," Bonnie said. "It's sad that he felt he had to step down as captain over it, and I just think that's unfair. I felt sad for him.
"I was pissed off for a long time, after it happened! At the time, my grief for my dad was more powerful than being angry at Tim. I learnt that I could forgive someone. I never thought I was strong enough to forgive someone, to move past it, and stick with them. I've learnt the skill of forgiveness, which is really difficult.
"My trust was a bit shattered from it and learning to try and trust again, was a process. I had my doubts, and there were times where I wanted to leave, and there were times I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. It was very confusing. It did take a long time for us to be strong again, and for us to be in a good place, but we are now."
