CRICKET Australia (CA) chair Richard Freudenstein says Tim Paine would not have survived as Test captain had the incident been investigated under the sport’s current administration.
Paine, who resigned as captain on Friday, was cleared of any breaches of Cricket Australia’s code of conduct in 2018 for a series of lewd text messages to a female colleague.

The incident was the centre of a Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania investigation before Paine was able to stay on in the highest-profile role in Australian sport.
But Freudenstein admitted yesterday that he and CEO Nick Hockley would have acted differently.

“I cannot speak about the original decision-making in 2018,” Freudenstein said. “But what I can say is faced with the same circumstances and with the benefit of all the relevant information about this matter, Cricket Australia would not make the same decisions today.

“I acknowledge the decision clearly sent the wrong message to the sport, to the community and to Tim: that this kind of behaviour is acceptable and without serious consequences.”
Freudenstein defended the actions of his administration for not acting earlier, claiming he considered the case closed when he joined the board in 2019.

He was also fine with Paine continuing as a player ahead of the Ashes, but said the role of captain had to be held to a higher degree of accountability.
“The captain of the Australian cricket team has to be held to a very high standard,” Freudenstein said.

“Which is why I think it is absolutely appropriate that Tim has resigned the captaincy which is in the best interest of Australian cricket.
“The board of Australian cricket is comfortable with his availability as a player.” (AAP)