Published 13:53 IST, March 2nd 2020
SA vs AUS: Michael Clarke feels Steve Smith should NEVER captain Australia again
Former Australian Test captain Michael Clarke does not believe that Steve Smith captaining Australia is in the best interests of the team after his ban.
Former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke has suggested that his predecessor Steve Smith would probably never get an opportunity to captain Australia ever again. The 38-year-old World Cup-winning Australian captain believes that the Australian team should be led by pace bowler Pat Cummins. Cummins is currently the vice-captain of Australia in the red-ball format and has been dominating Test charts across the world.
Will Steve Smith ever captain Australia again? Michael Clarke doesn't think so
After the ball-tampering disaster at Newlands hampered Australian cricket in March 2018, the then captain Steve Smith was banned from cricket for a year and denied any leadership role in the Australian side for two years. The latter is about to come to an end and Steve Smith will soon be eligible to captain Australia again. Here is where former Australia Test skipper Michael Clarke believes that Smith should decline an offer to captain Australia again and Pat Cummins should be handed the role instead.
Talking on an Australian morning sports show, where he serves as an analyst, Michael Clarke said that albiet unconventional, bowling all-rounder Pat Cummins should be appointed as the new skipper of Australia across all formats since his reading of the game is impeccable. Clarke added that although he acknowledges that Steve Smith is Australia's best batsmen, he is not the best captaincy material for the national team. The former Test captain added that the Australian stereotype of a batsman being a captain need to be challenged.
Clarke also thanked the current captains, Tim Paine (Test) and Aaron Finch (T20I, ODI), for their contributions and vital performances and felt that the end of this year would be the perfect time for them to relinquish their captaincy duties. Australia will host India and others in the T20 World Cup in Australia and later, India visit for the Border-Gavaskar trophy and Clarke insisted both skippers to retire from captaincy at the end of these series.
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Steve Smith first captained Australia in 2015 and went on to captain 93 games for Australia across formats. In the 34 Tests he captained, Australia won 18 and drew 6. He was an accomplice in the ball-tampering scandal of 2018 where Cameron Bancroft was caught roughing up the ball with sandpaper at Newlands. Vice-captain David Warner received a penalty similar to Smith's.
SA vs AUS: South Africa vs Australia live streaming
The Australian team is currently playing South Africa in an away SA vs AUS ODI series where they are currently trailing, 0-1. Their next match is on Wednesday, March 4. SA vs AUS Live Telecast in India is available on the Sony SIX and Sony SIX HD. South Africa vs Australia live Streaming is available on Sony LIV.
Updated 13:53 IST, March 2nd 2020