The raunchy text messages Australian test cricket captain Tim Paine sent to a female colleague sparking his shock resignation have been revealed.
The married father-of-two from Tasmania who has led the team since the Sandpaper-gate scandal in 2018, is under investigation by Cricket Australia.
Paine, 36, sent a photo of his penis to a female co-worker along with a stream of lewd text messages, many of which are too raunchy to publish.
The messages were sent shortly before Paine was appointed to the Australian captaincy.
‘Will you want to taste my d**?? F**k me, I’m seriously hard,’ one of the messages he sent to the Cricket Tasmania employee read.
He announced his resignation in a statement on Friday afternoon and held a press conference and 2.30pm on Friday where he tearfully apologised.
‘It’s an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket,’ he said.
The lewd messages were sent on November 22 and 23, 2017, the eve and morning of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The woman was a Cricket Tasmania employee whom Paine knew from playing state cricket, the Herald Sun reports.
She sent a letter of complaint to Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania in 2018 – sparking an investigation – and she also wrote to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the texts.
The woman said she was offended by ‘Mr Paine’s sexually explicit, unwelcome and unsolicited’ picture of his genitals and his ‘graphic sexual comments’ in correspondence with cricket officials in June 2018.
The woman interacted with Paine on and off for about a year with the texts becoming increasingly steamy before a sudden explicit turn just before she resigned from Cricket Tasmania.
Cricket Australia is understood to have become aware of the message shortly after Paine was appointed to captain the Australian side.
Speaking on Friday, Paine said he didn’t want the scandal to disrupt the team.
‘I believe that it is the right decision for me to stand down as captain, effective immediately. I do not want this to become an unwelcome disruption to the team ahead of what is a huge Ashes series.
‘I have loved my role…’ he said, his voice cracking as he wiped away a tear, ‘as captain of the Australian cricket team.
‘It’s been the greatest privilege of my sporting life to lead the Australian men’s test team. I’m grateful for the support of my teammates and proud of what we’ve been able to achieve together.
‘To them, I ask for their understanding and forgiveness. To Australian cricket fans – deeply sorry that my past behaviour has impacted our game on the eve of the Ashes.
