No sooner had England established a world record score and an unassailable lead in the five match ODI series, than the muttering started about Tim Paine's appointment as Australia's ODI captain. Paine can't be blamed for the opposition's record score. England belted 21 sixes, so a legitimate response to his critics would be: “What was I supposed to do. Put fielders in the stands?”

However what Paine didn't do when he was officially appointed captain of the Test and ODI side was establish who was in charge. Following the appointment of a new coach, Paine talked about the team putting into practise Justin Langer's philosophies. Paine should've established how HE wanted the team to behave and how HE wanted them to play. When Mark Taylor began his highly successful reign as Australian captain he told coach Bob Simpson, who had stepped forward to speak to the players, “I'll handle this Bob.”