MELBOURNE: Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine's career appears to have come to an end as Tasmania has not offered him a fresh contract, months after his text message scandal before the Ashes series.
The 37-year-old Paine has not been included in the contracted players' list, posted by Cricket Tasmania on its website.
Paine had quit after being investigated by Cricket Australia for sending explicit text messages to a female co-worker four years ago.
During a correspondence with Australian cricket authorities in June 2018, the woman claimed she was offended by "Mr Paine's sexually explicit, unwelcome and unsolicited photograph of his genitals in addition to the graphic sexual comments".
After a sabbatical from cricket following his captaincy resignation, Paine returned to Tasmania as an assistant coach late last season, even as his playing career remained uncertain until the release of the Tigers squad on Thursday.
Paine was promoted as Australia's Test captain following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018.
He has played 35 Tests and 147 first-class matches.
