Picture Credit: Twitter
As the sexting scandal involving Australian cricketer Tim Paine continues to intensify, the text messages that were exchanged between him and his Tasmanian woman colleague, that took place in 2017 have now surfaced online. Paine decided to step down as the captain of the Australian men's Test team when he came to know that the conversation will be made public.
Paine had sent a picture of his private part to his co-worker along with other sexually explicit messages. The wicketkeeper batter was well aware of the consequences of his actions and yet went ahead with the conversation. Moreover, as if a prophecy, Paine's female colleague had even warned her while texting that they would both be "fuck*d up" if these messages were leaked.
While sending the picture, Paine had captioned, "True so fuck*d." The woman, however, had then resigned from her position in the following year as she was offended by the messages and there was an official complaint from her lodged with the authorities.
Check out the text messages between the two here:
Earlier, while resigning from the position of the Test captain of the Australian Test team, Paine broke down.
"Today, I'm announcing my decision to stand down as the captain of the Australian men's Test team. It's an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket," Paine read out a statement in front of the press.
"As a background on my decision, nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague. At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in," he added.
"That investigation and a Cricket Tasmania HR investigation at the same time found that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct. Although exonerated, I deeply regretted this incident at the time, and still do today. I spoke to my wife and family at the time and am enormously grateful for their forgiveness and support. We thought this incident was behind us and that I could focus entirely on the team, as I have done for the last three or four years," he further said.
"However, I recently became aware that this private text exchange was going to become public. On reflection, my actions in 2017 do not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community. I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused to my wife, my family, and to the other party. I'm sorry for any damage that this does to the reputation of our sport," he said, saying that there was no other option than a resignation.