Cricket Australia Chairman Drops Hint That Steve Smith Might Not Actually Lead The Side In Future

The ongoing conversations about Steve Smith’s possibility of serving as the Australian captain have not been put to rest yet. Steve Smith became eligible for captaincy this year, having returned to Australian colours in June 2019 after serving a year-long ban for his role in the ball-tampering saga. But Cricket Australia Chairman Earl Heddings has underlined that Smith does not remains the only contender in the mix.

Steve Smith’s comeback to Australian colours well and truly shaped up when he played a defining role in his side’s retention of Ashes in England. The 31-year old mustered a mammoth 774 runs at more than 100 with three centuries and two fifties as Australia retained the urn for the first time in England since 2001. Smith’s performances in white-ball cricket have also been reasonably good, further suggesting that he would do well as a captain.

Earl Eddings underlined that they have got three magnificent captains in Meg Lanning, Aaron Finch, and Tim Paine across Australia men’s and women’s cricket. While he acknowledges that Smith had been an outstanding leader, they have some good captains coming through and they will choose what’s best for the side. Eddings also confirmed that the board is yet to have a detailed discussion on the same.

“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,” Eddings told ESPN Cricinfo.

We’ll be guided by the recommendations of the selection panel: Cricket Australia

Earl Eddings further said that Matthew Wade, who has already served as the vice-captain, has allowed them to look at him as their potential leader. Eddings remains confident that their panel will reach out to them with the right recommendations at the right time and they will go through it step by step.

“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,” he added.

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