The sexting scandal of former Australian Test captain Tim Paine has taken everyone by surprise. A looming threat of this scandal becoming public made Paine step down from his position as the Australian team’s captain. In his statement, Paine said that he did not want this scandal to reflect badly on the team. Or make his teammates lose their attention from the game because of the media coverage the matter would have gathered had Paine been the captain still.
After his decision, the Cricket Board of Australia also issued their statement, and simultaneously his wife too reacted to the scandal becoming public. In an interview with News Corp, Bonnie Maggs, Paine’s wife, said, “I felt betrayed, and I felt hurt, upset, and I felt pissed off, I also had feelings of gratitude because he (Tim) was being so honest with me.” She further added that the couple had a tumultuous time and had fights but then talked about things and somehow managed to move on with everything by deciding to put the matter to bed. However, now the pictures becoming public again has frustrated her, and she feels that everyone should move on with life like the couple.
The matter took place in 2017 before Tim Paine had made his return to the Australian Squad. When the matter came to Cricket Australia’s knowledge, they investigated it only to find it not breaching their code of conduct. As a result, Paine remained the captain under whose leadership a new era of Australian cricket dawned as they retained the Ashes in 2019 in England. After the matter caught the media’s light, the Australian board was severely criticized for handling the matter internally for brand management.
