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‘He showed lack of class’: Michael Vaughan slams Tim Paine for comments on Joe Root
Reacting to Paine's comments, Vaughan said as Australia's Test captain, he needed to show some empathy towards the England players
Former England captain Michael Vaughan came down heavily on Australia Test skipper Tim Paine for his lack of empathy towards England players. Paine had said there was no need for Joe Root to tour Australia for the Ashes if wasn't comfortable with the quarantine rules but the series would go on.
The comment did not go down well with the England cricketing fraternity, who criticized Paine.
“The Ashes are going ahead. The first Test is on December 8th, whether Joe is here or not,” Australia's captain had said on SEN sports radio.
"They'll have a choice to make, you either get on that plane or don't. No one is forcing you to come. If you don't want to come, don't come. There will be a squad of England players coming here," Paine added.
Reacting to Paine's comments, Vaughan said as a Test captain, he needed to show some empathy.
“As a Test match captain, you have to show a bit of empathy. In the last two years, he hasn’t taken his team overseas. He hasn’t had to go through what these England players have gone through. He hasn’t gone through what Joe Root has gone through. He plays only one format of the game. I do believe he showed a bit of lack of class,” Michael Vaughan told ABC Sports.
Further elaborating his views on Paine's comments, Vaughan said it must not have gone down well with the players.
“I don’t think that went down well with the players. There is a huge amount of respect between the two sides. And particularly, anyone that’s captain of an international side, I personally think he didn’t need to say what he said,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ECB gave a conditional approval to the Ashes. "To facilitate further progress and allow a squad to be selected, the ECB board has met today and given its approval for the tour to go ahead,” it said in a statement.
"This decision is subject to several critical conditions being met before we travel. We look forward to the ongoing assistance from Cricket Australia in resolving these matters in the coming days.”
