Pat Cummins, Steve Smith
Pat Cummins, Steve Smith. (Photo: ICC)

Star Pat Cummins and talisman batsman Steve Smith were interviewed by a Cricket Australia panel for the positions of Australia‘s Test captain and vice-captain following Tim Paine’s resignation amid the ‘sexting’ scandal.

Last week, Paine resigned from his Test captaincy position, one which he was given when Smith was axed for his involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering event.

With less than three weeks to go for the home Ashes, Cricket Australia are in a haste to decide on their next leader – Australia’s 47th Test captain.

Pat Cummins, who was named the vice-captain for the Ashes, is the likeliest candidate to be the new skipper. Should he be appointed, Pat Cummins will only be the second fast-bowler to captain Australia in Test cricket.

Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne
Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

However, with his experience in consideration, Steve Smith also stands a good chance to be re-instated at the helm. Not to forget, Pat Cummins could be rested at some point, and Smith would then be elevated to the captaincy role.

The pair is currently at a quarantined training camp on the Gold Coast ahead of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.

According to a report in The Age, they appeared in the interview by video link before the 5-member committee which consisted of selectors George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, chief executive Nick Hockley, chair Richard Freudenstein and board member Mel Jones.

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Paine should not have been put in a position where he felt the need to resign: Cricket Tasmania chairman

Meanwhile, Cricket Tasmania chairman Andrew Gaggin has slammed Cricket Australia for the way they have treated Tim Paine in the light of the emergence of the lewd text messages.

CA chairman Freudenstein and CEO Hockley stated on Saturday that they would have axed Paine as the captain had they been in charge in 2018.

Tim Paine
Tim Paine (Image Credit: Twitter)

Gaggin lashed out of this treatment as “appalling” and believes that Paine shouldn’t have been forced into resignation over “consensual and private” text exchanges.

“Tim Paine has been a beacon for Australian cricket over the past four years and instrumental in salvaging the reputation of the national team after the calamity of Cape Town. Yet, at a time when CA should have supported Tim, he was evidently regarded as dispensable. The treatment afforded to the Australian Test captain by CA has been appalling, and the worst since Bill Lawry 50 years ago,” the Cricket Tasmania chairman said in the statement.

“The Cricket Tasmania Board reaffirmed its view that Paine should not have been put in a position where he felt the need to resign over an incident that was determined by an independent inquiry at the time to not be a breach of the Code of Conduct and was a consensual and private exchange that occurred between two mature adults and was not repeated.”

Paine is available for selection for the Ashes, which starts on December 8 in Brisbane.

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