Cricket Australia gives an update on Steve Smith returning to captaincy in Tests

For the past few months, there has been a constant debate over whether Steve Smith should take over the captaincy of the Australian cricket team across all the three formats of the game. Smith, along with David Warner, had made a comeback to the top-level cricket in the 2019 World Cup. He completed his two-year captaincy ban in March 2020, yet no clarification has been given by the Cricket Australia (CA) on whether Steve Smith will ever lead the team again.

At present, Tim Paine is leading the national team in the longest format of the game while Aaron Finch has donned the captain’s hat in the limited-overs format. Finch has successfully led the team since 2018 as they reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup. Paine, on the other hand, had a decent run as a captain.

Under Paine, Australia retained the Ashes against England in 2019. They have also registered series wins over Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and New Zealand, however, they lost the Test series to India at home for the first time. CA is likely to take a decision on Tim’s captaincy after the conclusion of 2021-22 Ashes on the Australian soil.

Australia’s chairman of selectors gives an update

Meanwhile, Australia’s chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns gave an update on the future of Test leadership in Australia. Notably, this is the first time that someone has opened up regarding the Test captaincy. As per the statement made by Trevor, the board is currently not interested in replacing the leadership duties.

Also, the road is not smooth for Smith as Pat Cummins has been named as the vice-captain of the squad for the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy against India, starting from December 17 in Adelaide. Thus, Cummins is more likely to lead the team in the absence of Paine.

“All I can answer to that one is that discussion hasn’t been had yet. That’s difficult to say, he will obviously be – probably – a contender but whether we go down that path or not depends on when that arises,” Trevor Hohns, Australia’s chairman of selectors, said according to Times Now.