Cricket Australia chairman Richard Freudenstein on Saturday admitted the governing body should have axed Tim Paine as Test captain in 2018 after a sexting scandal that “sent the wrong message that this kind of behaviour is acceptable.” 

Paine abruptly quit on Friday, just weeks ahead of the Ashes series against England, over a series of lewd text messages with a female colleague in 2017 that he had learnt was about to be made public.