Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine, who has been leading the national team since 2018, has thrown his weight behind Steve Smith, saying the star batsman is good enough to regain captaincy when he ends his stint as the skipper of the ‘Baggy Greens‘.
The 36-year-old, however, has no plans to immediately vacate the position but is confident that Smith is an ideal candidate for the top job. In March. Steve Smith had said that he will be open to captaincy if offered a chance to replace the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman.
Notably, Paine took over as captain from Smith after the star batsman was banned for two years from leadership roles for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal that brought disrepute to Australian cricket in South Africa.
“I think so. Obviously, I don’t make that decision but the time I played with Steve as captain he was excellent. Certainly tactically he is as good as you get. Then obviously South Africa events happened and he’s not doing it anymore. But, yeah, I’d support him getting that job again,” Tim Paine told Newscorp media on Thursday.
Paine has been under pressure to relinquish captaincy after Australia lost a home Test series to an injury-hit Indian side earlier this year. The 2-1 series defeat also saw them surrender their unbeaten streak at the Gabba, which stretched back to the 1988-89 season.
Cricket Australia chief selector Trevor Hohns said in November Smith would probably be a contender to succeed Paine but selectors had not discussed it. Paine, however, has no plans to relinquish the captaincy. Instead, he suggested he might be tempted to bow out of the game if Australia beat England in the 2021/22 Ashes.