Australian ex-captain Paine leaves cricket for "the foreseeable future", Pat Cummins new test captain

Sydney - Australian Tim Paine will give up all forms of cricket "for the foreseeable future," Cricket Tasmania said on Friday after a sexting scandal prompted him to resign as test captain. His decision abruptly ended the debate in Australia over whether to attend the Ashes, with the first Test against England opening in Brisbane on December 8th.

"Following discussions over the past 24 hours, Tim Paine has told Cricket Tasmania that he will be taking a leave of absence from all forms of cricket for the foreseeable future," a statement said. The Tasmanian keeper resigned a week ago as a test captain for the public disclosure of an exchange of allegedly sexually suggestive text messages with a colleague in 2017.

But while stepping down as skipper, Paine said he wanted to remain a "dedicated member" of the Australian testing site and was looking forward to the Ashes tour. And there was a lot of support to keep him on the team for the opening game in Brisbane.

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Australia opener Marcus Harris just said Wednesday that Paine had the full support of the Australian team and deserved to keep his spot for the first Test. A five-person committee will decide on the new test captain, with Pat Cummins and Steve Smith being the frontrunners.

The panel will reportedly not include coach Justin Langer, who will focus on preparing the team. Instead, the job will be transferred to voters George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, Cricket Australia board member Mel Jones, board chairman Nick Hockley and chairman Richard Freudenstein.