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Why ‘selfish’ former Australian captain Tim Paine dumped all his Australian and Tasmanian cricket equipment to save his marriage after a sexting scandal that cost him almost everything
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Former Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has revealed all about his ‘selfish’ attitude that led to the downfall of his life – saying he failed as a husband and ditched cricket altogether to regain his marriage.
Paine infamously resigned as the national captain last November after an inappropriate intimate exchange with a Cricket Tasmania colleague in 2017 flooded the headlines.
Tim Paine (R) and wife Bonnie at the 2020 Australian Cricket Awards, where Paine led the Test side through a dark time
The news nearly led to a breakdown in marriage with his wife Bonnie, who struggled to forgive her husband and the father of three of their children.
Paine, who is in the process of releasing his autobiography The Price Paid: A Story of Life, Cricket and Lessons Learnedsaid it was the release from cricket and the support of professional help that enabled him to re-engage in family life.
Tim Paine and his wife Bonnie with their two children, during the Australian cricket summer 2021
The 37-year-old told The Australian Peter Lalor, who worked with the cricketer on his book, how hard it was to get out of the deep rut he buried himself in.
“I never thought I wouldn’t put my wife and family first, but when I took a step back, it was ridiculous that I couldn’t see how selfish I was, how much I was in my own bubble,” Paine said. .
“You think the whole cricketing thing is your life until it isn’t, and then you think, ‘Shit, what else have I got?’ and neither do you (cricket or marriage). That was a kick in the ass.
“That period of my life, our life, still upsets me. I don’t like to talk about it, I don’t like to go back on it. It was damn hard, but it was harder to watch Bonnie try to cope with…it wasn’t because of her actions, she was within her right to do that at the time and I probably would have done the same.
‘I was devastated then. One day I was in the garage and I saw the Cricket Australia bag on the shelf and the Tasmanian next to it and was overwhelmed with the urge to throw them away. Everything went well, but luckily my club uniform was in another room and survived.’
Paine pulls out to the border for a four in the Sheffield Shield game against Queensland – Tasmania lost both games in the opening season
Paine made his Test debut with Steve Smith in 2010 and climbed the Tasmanian cricket table as a No. 1 goalkeeper, but impressed with the bat in short forms and changed his game.
Paine was about to retire in 2017 to take on a role at Kookaburra producing bats and other equipment when he received a stunning call-up to join the Test ranks.
Yet it was in the same year that it was revealed that Paine had a sexting exchange with Cricket Tasmania employee Renee Ferguson, who returned to burn him at the peak of his powers.
Paine looks on during the fourth Test at The Gabba in Brisbane against India, January 19, 2021
He was at the helm of 24 Test matches after inheriting the captaincy following South Africa’s infamous Sandpapergate scandal, which saw Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned from all cricket for long periods.
The former Hobart Hurricane insists their relationship was completely consensual.
Paine and wife Bonnie on honeymoon – the couple now have three children and live in Tasmania
Paine says he now loves family life, with his three children, and is grateful that his wife Bonnie has endured a difficult year.
The veteran glove-man is now back for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield, but struggled with the bat and didn’t score a high score of *29 in three innings.