Australian cricket coach Justin Langer has gone in to bat for former captain Tim Paine and knocked critics for six in the wake of the ex-skipper's sexting scandal.
Langer came out on the front foot to smash the relentless attacks on Paine as a hypocritical pursuit of false 'perfectionism'.
'Our captain, one of the best, made a mistake and is paying a heavy price for it,' Langer slammed, ahead of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba on Wednesday.
'What I continually see in this job and see in the society we live in – it's brutal. We live in a world of perfectionism, don't we? We are a very judgmental society.'
Australian cricket coach Justin Langer (pictured) has slammed the attacks on Tim Paine, who stood down as Test captain in November after a sexting scandal from 2017 was made public
Justin Langer confirmed Tim Paine's priority is his family following the highly publicised sexting scandal, which resulted in the wicketkeeper (pictured here with wife Bonnie) taking an indefinite break from the sport
Langer was appointed coach in 2018 in the wake of the 'sandpapergate' scandal in South Africa, and he said he saw similarities in the outrage that have followed both.
'As I said in my very first press conference [in 2018] when I was asked about Steve Smith and David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, there's not one person who is asking questions here, or who is on the camera here, or who is listening to this or watching who hasn't made a mistake in their life,' he said.
'There's not a single person. You learn your lessons, but we live in an unforgiving society. And that's a shame.'
Langer still believes Paine may one day return to the Australian Test side.
'He (Paine) loves cricket. He absolutely loves cricket,' he said. 'And he's 37. He is a fit as any athlete, certainly in our squad. He looks after himself so well.
He's very focused, so who knows. His number one priority at the moment is family as you can imagine, and that's how it should be.
'I'm not sure we've seen the end of him. But we'll wait and see. That'll be his decision.'
Langer said Paine remained 'one of my really close friends' and 'someone I admire enormously'.
But he acknowledged the life of the wicketkeeper had changed dramatically in recent weeks amid concerns for the fallen hero's mental health.
The passionate defence comes after Langer flew from Brisbane to Hobart late last month to personally check on the welfare of his former skipper.
Paine resigned from the prized position on November 19 when it emerged he sent sexually explicit messages to an employee of Cricket Tasmania in 2017.
Cricket Tasmania became aware of the texts in mid-2018, with an investigation by the organisation and Cricket Australia clearing him of any code of conduct breaches.
Paine then announced he was taking an indefinite break from the sport.
Tim Paine (left) was recently visited by coach Justin Langer (right with Paine), who flew to Hobart from Brisbane to see first-hand the mental state of his former skipper
Langer and Paine worked closely together to rebuild the national team after the 2018 ball tampering scandal.
Paine told news.com.au that Langer wanted him to remain as captain.
'JL (Justin Langer) told me he's devastated,' Paine said.
'He was pretty firm that he wanted me to continue as captain, and again, once I explained to him the reasons that I thought resigning was the best thing to do, he was with me all the way.'
Paine, 36, sent a photo of his penis to a female co-worker along with a stream of lewd text messages in 2017
Teammates also reportedly still wanted the veteran wicketkeeper to play the first Ashes Test at the Gabba against England beginning on Wednesday.
Cricket Tasmania then confirmed he wouldn't play in the recent one-dayer versus Western Australia on November 26, with his manager James Henderson later stating Paine was 'stepping away from cricket for an indefinite mental health break'.
He posted on Twitter that there were 'extreme concerns' for the well-being of Paine and his wife Bonnie.
Paine was investigated by Cricket Australia in 2018 after former Cricket Tasmania staffer Renee Ferguson complained, but cleared of misconduct and the matter was kept secret.
He sent a photo of his penis to the female co-worker along with a stream of lewd text messages, many of which are too raunchy to publish.
'Will you want to taste my d**?? F**k me, I'm seriously hard,' one of the messages sent to the
