Sydney: Steve Smith’s two-year leadership ban has ended on Sunday, making the number on ICC ranked Test batsman free to lead Australia again.
Smith after the ball-tampering scandal was suspended for 12 months and was banned for two-years as it all happened under his leadership where Cameron Bancroft used sandpaper to rub the ball in Cape Town.
Co-conspirator and former vice-captain David Warner was banned from any leadership role for life, although both have resumed their international careers successfully and are part of the Australian cricket team in all formats of the game.
There have been situations where Smith is pushed to take back the captaincy from the 35-year-old Tim Paine but it is uncertain whether Smith wants to lead again or not.
However, head coach Justin Langer has lauded Paine’s leadership last year and said Smith might not want to take extra burden of captaincy on top of batting pressures. Aaron Finch is the skipper of the limited-overs format of the kangaroos. – Agencies
