After Aaron Finch was out for one T20I match against India because of injury, there was a lot of talks that Steve Smith should be given the captaincy. However, the Australian team went with Matthew Wade as the captain. And at last, the host ended up losing that match which provoked more voices in Smith to be the captain.
Steve Smith had to resign from captaincy after the sandpaper gate scandal in 2018. Cricket Australia had banned him for one year for playing international cricket. As a result, Test captaincy was handed over to Tim Paine while Aaron Finch was made limited over’s captain. But both the captains have shown their desire to retire after the 2023 World Cup.
Steve Smith was a good captain but Australia has other options: Earl Eddings
Amid all the discussions, Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings has stated that apart from Smith, they have several other options for the captain’s position. He acknowledged that Smith was definitely a 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.
“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 took the name of Matthew Wade for being a good option for the future leader. He added that they will go with as per the recommendation of the selection panel for selecting the captain in the future.
“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.
Meanwhile, Aaron Finch guided Australia to win the ODI series, in which Steve Smith was the significant contributor in victory, against India while lost the T20I series. Currently, Tim Paine is leading the ongoing four-match Test series against India where his side has won the opening match by eight wickets.