I reckon CA had this up their sleeve, then when the time was right (and Paine had served his purpose) they threaten to release the messages and force Paine to quit, leaving them free to bring in a proper Batter Keeper for the Ashes.
Seems a strange decision all round to me as CA are fully aware and a panel cleared him but he is resigning due to this, Jump before pusher I feel. Personally I’m not best pleased as Aus can now pick a keeper that can A) score runs B) use DRS properly ffs.Bloke was a useless batsmen, avg keeper and captain but steered aus through a challenging period I guess
Was Smith actually a good captain or was he just a phenomenal player who made up for his side's deficiencies? Don't recall him being tactically brilliant and he doesn't come across as an excellent man manager.