Langer weighs in on ODI captaincy

Head coach Justin Langer says if Tim Paine doesn’t play his best cricket Australia’s selectors will “probably have to look somewhere else” for the nation’s ODI captain.

Paine was installed as ODI captain for the Qantas tour of England last month primarily to maintain a uniform message between the Test and one-day sides under Langer in the wake of the events in South Africa.

While he has done a “brilliant job” as captain since the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town, Paine’s efforts with the bat in the ODI series in England produced just 36 runs in five innings, the fewest runs by an Australian skipper in a five-match series.

Paine had a torrid time in the UK.

Along with his lean output with the bat, his side was whitewashed 5-0 by a rampant England outfit and to add injury to insult, he required stitches in his face when he was collected by an awkward delivery standing back to paceman Andrew Tye.

Former Australia batsman Mike Hussey said last week he’s unsure whether Paine will be the one-day captain or wicketkeeper for the World Cup in 12 months’ time, and now Langer says he and the selectors will have a decision to make about the Tasmanian’s position in the XI.

“I was with (national selector) Trevor Hohns today and I also said this a few weeks ago, one of our huge priorities is to make sure we get the leadership and the captaincy right,” Langer told SEN program Whateley.

“No doubt Tim has had a tough time here. He’s done a brilliant job since South Africa in steadying the ship. He’s an outstanding young man.

“He’s also tough. You saw him get hit in the face in the second game, he had stitches all in his face, it’s reminiscent to me of a lot of the great Australian captains.

“We’ve got to work out whether he’s going to play his best cricket in white-ball cricket and if he does he’s a chance, and if he doesn’t then we’ll probably have to look somewhere else.

“We’ll have a really close look at a whole number of things when we get back from England and Zimbabwe next week and we’ll move from there.”

Langer, who has been in the role as Darren Lehmann’s successor for only a few months, says he’s quickly starting to understand how frantic the international schedule is.

That includes juggling players, formats and leaders, one aspect Langer’s arch-rivals England appear to have figured out.

England split the leadership roles four years ago on the eve of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand where they made an embarrassing early exit at the group stage.

Since then Eoin Morgan has taken the reins of the limited-overs teams, while the Test side has been led by Joe Root and veteran Alastair Cook before him.

While Langer likes having a consistent message delivered from the same captain, he is warming to the idea of splitting the captaincy roles like his Ashes rivals have done.

“One thing that’s been interesting and goes against my thinking as well, is Joe Root for example, he plays in the one-day team but is captain of the Test team and they split that (captaincy) role with Eoin Morgan,” Langer said.

“I’m starting to recognise really quickly how hectic the schedule is in international cricket.

“They are all things we’re going to have a look at.”

While the demands of captaining different formats simultaneously can be exhausting, Langer is confident Paine could handle the workload, even in his role as the team’s gloveman.

“There’s got to be a reason why there hasn’t been too many wicketkeepers who have captained in a lot of teams actually and certainly not Australian cricket,” he said.

“He’s incredibly fit. He’s got high capacity as a person so he can pull it off, but it is a hard thing to do. 

“We’ll certainly have to look at it, there’s no doubt.”

One option to replace Paine is senior batsman Aaron Finch, who is in charge of the T20 international team.

Finch has captained Australia twice in ODI cricket, but when asked on match eve of the sole T20I clash with England at Edgabston, the Victorian said the 50-over captaincy has not crossed his mind.

"Honestly, I have not thought about it one bit," Finch said.

"If the opportunity came up it would be an honour. I've lead the one-day side a couple of times before, I had the T20 role a few years back. But it's nothing that I've ever thought about.

"Tim is the captain and did a great job throughout the (ODI) series.

"It was disappointing that we didn't back up his leadership as well as we could have with our performance. We just let ourselves slip a couple of times."

Qantas tours of the UK and Zimbabwe

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey

Qantas Tour of the UK

June 7: Australia beat Sussex by 57 runs at Hove

June 9: Australia beat Middlesex by 101 runs at Lord's

June 13: England won by three wickets at The Oval

June 16: England won by 38 runs in Cardiff

June 19: England won by 242 runs at Trent Bridge

June 21: England won by six wickets in Durham

June 24: England won by one wicket at Old Trafford

June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)

Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe

July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 2: Pakistan vs Australia

July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final