Cricket Tasmania has felt obliged to send out letters to its members to apologise on behalf of Cricket Australia's decision not to award the state a Test match again that is set to ensure Tim Paine will never captain his country on his home ground.
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Should Paine skipper all of the five Tests for the summer over India and the inaugural match with Afghanistan that Cricket Tasmania had bid to host, the wicketkeeper will have been in charge 24 times.
That number is equal to Sir Don Bradman and just four less than Richie Benaud, but Paine will also have been just the second Australian not to lead his team out in front of his hometown fans and the first for at least 134 years.
Paine's spasmodic career that included battling finger injuries has also been without playing a Test in Hobart.
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Cricket Tasmania chairman Andrew Gaggin echoed the sentiments of chief executive Dominic Baker behind the snubbing for a Test for the fourth straight season to The Age that appears sure to continue Paine's angst ahead of facing England next year.
Bellerive Oval always has been put behind Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth every Ashes series.
"To me, it's an embarrassment he may well finish his career, I don't when he is going to finish, but he finishes as one of our top-10 games captained but never captains a game at home - never plays a Test at home," Gaggin said.
The lack of support comes in spite of Tasmania joining Victoria and South Australia as the only states supporting Cricket Australia's state cuts.
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