Steve Smith and Tim Paine
Two years back, Australian cricket was left wounded by the infamous ball-tampering act leaving three players including the captain suspended by the board for 12 months. The nation was in desperate need of a captain who could inspire Australia to bounce back from the infamous act to reclaim their supremacy in world cricket. Tim Paine was handed over the responsibility and after a period of struggle through the remainder of 2018 which included their first-ever home Test series defeat to India, Australia bounced back to retain the Ashes in England next summer before finishing off the year with a stunning home return.
But Paine's run is likely to end with the next Ashes at home next year and Cricket Australia will look for a new captain.
Former captain and a World Cup-winner Ricky Ponting warned of an "absolute disaster" if the board once again pick Smith as the captain.
“If Cricket Australia had thought he would have never done it again, they would have put a black line through his name right from the start, but they’ve left that option open,” Ponting told news.com.au.
After serving the ban, Smith had made a remarkable return to the sport with a glorious Ashes campaign in England in 2019. But even as he ramped up centuries and tore apart old records, the ghost of the infamous act kept haunting him all throughout with the English crowd unable to accept him.
While Ponting has no doubt about Smith's captaincy prowess, but feels that the fans might not be on board with the call.
“The public sentiment certainly has changed, and that’ll be the interesting thing to see,” Ponting said.
“It’ll be if the Australian public are willing to allow him to come back and be captain again, because if Cricket Australia made that announcement that he’s going to be captain and it didn’t sit well with the public, then it’ll be an absolute disaster.”
