New captain Paine draws on tough times

It's the difficult times away from the international game that have Tim Paine best-placed to help guide the Australia cricket team's cultural rebuild.

The 33-year-old was thrust into the Test captaincy role after skipper Steve Smith and deputy Dave Warner were suspended over the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Paine had made his debut in 2010 but played just four Tests in the ensuing seven years, with a broken right index finger suffered in a charity match stalling his career.

He was poised to retire 12 months ago having battled to even a get a place in a struggling Tasmania Sheffield Shield side.

But after seven years in the Test wilderness and multiple finger operations, he was thrown the gloves last year for the Ashes series opener in Brisbane.

"I've been through some massive highs and some really low lows," Paine said in Hobart on Thursday.

"That fact I've been there and done it - and lost it - has certainly held me in good stead.

"I was that close to not playing cricket.

"Being so close to not doing what I love doing and now, being in the position I am, just makes me cherish it even more."

But if he feels the pressure of being Australia's 46th Test captain, he isn't showing it.

"To be honest I've just tried to be myself, tried to be a relaxed type of person around the team," Paine said.

"That's going to be the major focus for me, with all the distractions and stuff that goes on with being captain, is just to be myself."

Recovering from a broken thumb suffered in the fourth Test against South Africa, Paine insists he wants to be in the Test side for the long haul.

"I feel as good as I've ever felt. I'm 33 going on 22," he said.

"I feel at the moment the more cricket I play the easier it's becoming on my body.

"I can't see any reason why I can't play for a number of years."