Talks around Steve Smith’s re-appointment as the captain of Australian senior men’s cricket team is an ongoing when even when Cricket Australia does not consider him as the only candidate for the role in future. Tim Paine, the 36-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman has done a tremendous job after getting the job following Smith’s 12 months ban from international cricket. In addition, Smith was also handed a 2-year captaincy ban for his role in the infamous ball-tampering incident in 2018. The captaincy ban ended in March this year.
Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings has said that Steve Smith was definitely very good captain during his tenure but the management is not stuck only to his name when it comes to selecting the future captain of the Test and limited overs team. Eddings added that a number of players as vice-captain were being tried to better find the future leaders of Australian cricket.
“First of all we’ve got three great captains in Meg, Aaron and Tim, We’ve got some great young leaders coming through. So it’s not just about should Steve take over, it’s about what’s best overall. Steve’s a great young man and he was a good captain when he was there. Like any succession there’s planning in place. Have we sat down as a board specifically to discuss the next captain? No we haven’t.
“But I think over a period of time we’ve given a range of people options to be vice-captain, Matthew Wade was already vice-captain, so we’re seeing that and it gives us an opportunity to look at the future leaders of Australian cricket. We’ll be guided by the recommendations of the selection panel, they always come back to our board at the right time with their recommendation, and we’ll go through it in detail when they do that,” Eddings told ESPNcricinfo.
However, for now Aaron Finch, the limited overs captain and Test captain Tim Paine are going strong. Both Paine and Finch have hinted of their wish to continue for some time in their position. In fact, Aaron Finch has already started to prepare for 2023 World Cup.
Tim Paine has raised his game in the recent past, scoring 342 runs at 42.75 and a strike rate of 52.29 in eight matches since the end of the England versus Australia Headingley Test in 2019, He had also claimed 39 catches and two stumpings in that time.
