Appointing Steve Smith as Test captain after the Tim Paine episode will only add to the circus: Ian Healy

The former Australian keeper-batter Ian Healy has stated that appointing Steve Smith as the Test captain again won’t help Australian cricket in any way. Earlier, Tim Paine had voluntarily stepped down as the Test captain of the team. His decision had come amidst the sexting scandal with a Cricket Tasmania (CT) woman official.

Steve Smith, who was replaced by Paine as the Test skipper in 2018 post the ball-tampering scandal, has now emerged as one of the candidates for the captaincy responsibility. However, Healy feels that appointing Smith again as the captain isn’t a good idea.

“We’re going to add to the circus by Steve Smith being appointed after that (the Tim Paine episode). I’ve got no problems with Steve Smith captaining Australia again; he paid a heavy price for just being a lazy captain, that’s about all he was guilty of,” Healy told Sportsday.

Don’t think Smith needs to come in as vice-captain or straight after Paine’s indiscretion: Ian Healy

Along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Smith was banned by Cricket Australia for being involved in the sandpaper gate incident in Cape Town which had brought challenging days to Australian cricket in 2018. Healy opened up on the same and stated that he doesn’t think Smith needs to be appointed as the vice-captain as of now.

“Too many people around there think he was actually in there scratching that ball in South Africa, but if they’ve forgotten what happened he just wasn’t aware enough as captain to pull the reigns in and stop what was going to happen. That was his (Smith) crime, and he got a year (ban) for it. So, I’ve got no problems, but I don’t think he needs to come in as vice-captain or straight after Paine’s indiscretion,” Healy added.

Steve Smith has featured in 77 Test matches scoring 7540 runs at a healthy average of 61.8. He led the team in 34 Tests, wherein Australia had won 18, lost 10, and managed to pull a draw in six of them.

Healy also opened up on Tim Paine’s decision to resign from his role. He said, “Paine resigned of his own (choice), Cricket Australia said he could stay and the coach wanted him to stay on, (but) he just didn’t want to be a distraction in this circus.”