Former Test captain Tim Paine has slammed the positive reaction given to the West Indies after their famous win over Australia at the Gabba on Sunday evening.
The tourists pulled off one of the greatest upsets in recent history to win the Test by just eight runs with bowling sensation Shamar Joseph grabbing the final wicket.
As Joseph wheeled off in celebration with the rest of his teammates following in iconic scenes, it was hard not to get swept up in the moment.
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“What a moment in the history of the game,” former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on Channel 7.
But while the majority of commentators were seemingly full of praise for the West Indies, Paine was not “comfortable” with it.
“I get it from a fan’s point of view, but it annoys me when I hear past players commentating and almost barracking. I find that really hard to listen to,” Paine told SEN.
“It was awesome for the West Indies. It was not great for Australia. It wasn’t a great performance.
“I just don’t like it. It feels a bit uncomfortable. Why are you barracking against your team that you played in?
“I get the picture … everyone wants the West Indies to be good, everyone wants Test cricket to be really competitive so from a fan, I get it. But that’s the team I played in, then that’s my team.”
Paine also added there is “not a chance” he would ever barrack against Australia.
Another former Australian wicketkeeper in Ian Healy took aim at captain Pat Cummins’ post-match comments where he was full of praise for the tourists.
“They outplayed us, they played brilliantly and I know a lot of the talk was that there was some debutants, but once you put out an international eleven, you know it’s going to be tough,” Cummins said.
“They were fantastic. They’ve created a couple of superstars that we didn’t know about before the series. As a cricket fan, there’s a part of me that was happy to watch.”
But Healy said Cummins should have focused on his own side after they failed to reach their target of 216 despite sitting comfortably at 2-113.
“You know, I wasn’t that happy with Pat Cummins and how he dealt with it,” Healy said on SEN.
“He’s a bit too glowing of the West Indies. I like that bit, but I don’t think he’s paying enough attention to his side’s underachievement.
“Do you reckon they played brilliantly? We only had to chase 216, that means they didn’t play brilliantly until the last day.
“Australia let them into that match big time. Hopefully there was a question after that that got (Cummins’) mind and his thinking on his own team, because that wasn’t good enough.”
