Timothy David Paine (born 8 December 1984) is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains the Australian national team in Test cricket. A right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper, he plays for the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic cricket and was the captain of the Hobart Hurricanes before his selection for Australia in the 2017–18 Ashes series.
A product of the Australian Cricket Academy, Paine became the youngest-ever contracted player in Australia, when he received a rookie contract with Tasmania at 16 years of age. He made both his first-class and one-day debuts for Tasmania in 2005; scoring a one-day century later in the 2005–06 season, and a double-century, 215, in his next innings. He was a part of the state's maiden Pura Cup victory that season and also their 2007–08 one-day winning side. Paine made his ODI debut for Australia as a replacement for regular wicket-keeper Brad Haddin in 2009 against England, scoring his maiden international century. A further injury to Haddin in 2010 paved the way for Paine's Test debut against Pakistan in England. Soon after, he played in another two Tests against India, before Haddin's recovery for the 2010–11 Ashes series. From that time – including almost two full seasons lost to injury – he was not a regular in the Australian cricket side from April 2011 until his recall for the 2017/2018 Ashes series when both Peter Nevill and Matthew Wade failed to impress selectors. This was a significant comeback for Paine, who was not a regular in Tasmania's state side and prior to the season had to be convinced not to retire by coach Adam Griffith.
After former Australian captain Steve Smith admitted to involvement in a ball-tampering incident during the Third Test against South Africa in March 2018, Smith and vice-captain David Warner were stood down from their leadership positions mid-match. Paine was announced as the interim captain for the final two days, although only one was required to complete the match. He was confirmed as the 46th Captain of the Australian Test side on 28 March 2018 by Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland when Smith and Warner were suspended and sent back to Australia with Cameron Bancroft. In May 2018, Paine was named ODI captain for the series in England. However, following Australia's 5-0 ODI whitewash defeat to England, Aaron Finch replaced Paine as ODI Captain prior to a series against South Africa in November 2018, highly likely ending Paine's ODI career. In October 2018, Paine captained Australia during a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, but lost the series 1–0. Despite captaining Australia for the first time on home soil against India in a four match Test series, Paine unsuccessfully lost the series 2–1, with India retaining the Border–Gavaskar Trophy and winning its first Test series in Australia.
In January and February 2019, Paine captained Australia in a two Test match series against Sri Lanka. Australia won the series 2–0, with Paine winning his first Test series as captain. In June and July 2019, as preparation for the Ashes series in England, Paine captained the Australia A four-day squad, in first-class matches against Sussex and the England Lions.
In July 2019, he was named as captain in Australia's squad for the 2019 Ashes series in England. Australia retained the Ashes after winning the fourth Test, with England levelling the series 2–2 in the final test, resulting in the first drawn Ashes series since 1972. Paine became the first Australian Test captain since Steve Waugh in 2001 to retain the Ashes in a series in England. Paine then captained his second home summer with a two test series against Pakistan and a three test series against New Zealand, where Australia won all five tests.
On 27 December 2020, Paine effected his 150th dismissal in his 33rd test, making him the fastest to reach this figure. The previous record was held by Quinton de Kock, who reached 150 dismissals in 35 tests.