Legends weigh in on Paine's Test future

New skipper Tim Paine plans on remaining at No.7 in Australia's line-up, but Allan Border and Shane Warne have both suggested the Tasmanian's incredible rise from the outhouse to the penthouse could continue with a promotion up the batting order.

Warne, Border and Ian Chappell have also warned that captaining the side, wicketkeeping and batting could become too much for just one man, with Border suggesting uncapped South Australian Alex Carey could come into the side to take the gloves and allow Paine to focus on just batting and the leadership.

Paine's elevation to the Test captaincy has been somewhat overlooked in the media storm surrounding the ball-tampering scandal, the 33-year-old becoming Australia's 46th Test skipper a little more than four months after he wasn't considered a part of Tasmania's best Sheffield Shield side.

Cricket Australia have affirmed that Paine is not just a short-term replacement for Steve Smith and is set to take the reins for Australia's next Test series, away against Pakistan later this year.

But given Paine's long and well-documented history with finger injuries – plus the hairline fracture in his thumb that he suffered during the ongoing fourth Test in Johannesburg - Chappell has cautioned that having a gloveman as skipper can prove problematic.

"The problem if you're talking long term is that Tim Paine has got bad finger problems," Chappell said on Channel Nine's Sports Sunday program.

"The one thing you don't want is having to change captains on a regular basis. There's many qualities you need as a captain, but one of them is being there pretty much every game.

"And that's probably why we haven't seen many wicketkeepers (captain in Tests) because you're more likely to break your finger keeping than you are standing at first slip."

Warne added that the triple burden of captaining, batting and wicketkeeping could be too much of a challenge.

"I've never liked a wicketkeeper captaining a side," he told SuperSport. "I think there's so much going on and they're the barometer for the fielders to keep the energy up in the field all the time.

"I'm not saying Paine doesn't have a good brain for it, it's better to have someone looking from a different angle to the keeper.

"I think they make good deputies, but I think it's too much to ask for a wicketkeeper to be a captain of a Test side."

History supports Chappell's theory, with Paine only the fourth Australian wicketkeeper to captain in Test cricket after Adam Gilchrist (six Tests between 2000 and 2004), Barry Jarman (one Test in 1968) and Jack Blackham (eight Tests in 1894-95).

Overall, only 31 wicketkeepers have captained in Tests and the majority of them have been relatively short-term options; Indian great MS Dhoni (60 Tests as captain) and Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim (28) are the only glovemen to have captained on more than 20 occasions.

But it's worth pointing out that only twice in the past 25 years has an Australian gloveman missed a Test due to an injury suffered when keeping; Phil Emery stepped in for Ian Healy (broken finger) for one Test in 1994 and Graham Manou for one match in the 2009 Ashes when Brad Haddin also suffered a finger injury. During that time, non-wicketkeeping Australian captains have missed a total of nine Tests due to injury.

And Paine is in no doubt that he can handle the three facets of his game as skipper.

"I can no doubt," he said. "I think batting down the order means I can sit and think. And I think the way I play my cricket now is a lot more relaxed than when I last played for Australia.

"I was quite an uptight and aggressive cricketer but now I'm a lot more laidback which allows me to conserve a lot more mental energy. 

"I missed two-and-a-half seasons of cricket so the rest of my body is going really well for a 33-year-old."

Adding weight to the belief that Paine should give up the gloves is the gaping hole that has been left in the batting order following the suspensions of Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

Paine has a first-class batting average of a touch over 30 from 100 matches, with just one century (a score of 215) scored almost 12 years ago, but has performed admirably with the blade since his Test recall in November.

Outside of the suspended trio, Paine has the best batting average (50 from nine Tests) amongst Australians since the start of the Ashes and both Warne and Border believe he could bat higher in the order.

Border has even suggested the right-hander could bat as high as No.3 and that the highly-regarded Carey could come into the side as a wicketkeeper-batsman at No.7.

"(Paine's) technique is as good as anyone’s that we've seen on this tour," Border told SuperSport.

"So could he take up a batting position and, say, bat at three for Australia, not keep and bring in young Alex Carey or someone like that.

"(Paine) is the Australian captain going forward, is it going to be hard to captain and wicketkeep?"

Carey played six white-ball internationals for Australia this summer and also posted his maiden first-class century for SA, averaging 35 from eight matches in the JLT Sheffield Shield.

Speaking on Sunday, Paine says he has no plans to move away from the traditional No.7 spot for a keeper.

"I'll bat at seven where the wicketkeeper bats," Paine said.

"In this team that's my role, to try and eke out as many runs as I can with the tail. If that means that I'm not out at the end or, like today, you try to put the foot down a bit."

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test South Africa won by 322 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage