One of eight Directors at Cricket Australia (CA), and former Australian skipper Mark Taylor has thrown on Sunday (6 May) his backing behind Steve Smith to resume his leadership duty once completing his ban regarding the ball-tampering saga in South Africa.

Besides Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were handed lengthy ban by the Australian Cricket Board for their wrongdoing during the Cape Town Test two months back.

Meanwhile, Smith will return to the Australian set up for the 2019 ICC World Cup and Ashes in England after his 12-month national ban ends at the end of March 2019, but cannot lead the national side again until the end of March 2020.

Recently, Ian Chappell had said that Smith would never be considered for the captaincy, but Taylor believes that the 28-year-old right-hander should be considered for the role in future.

Taylor told the Nine Network’s Sports, “I still think Steve Smith can captain Australia” when he was asked who he thinks should be the long-term captain for Australia.

The commentator signed off by saying, “Steve Smith to me and everyone wants to label people, is not a cheat. Smith was guilty of negligence in my opinion. He saw something going on and he didn’t stamp it out. That’s a mistake of negligence. He’s not a cheat; he’s a very good person. I think if he ever does come back and captain Australia it will make him a better captain.”

Meanwhile, Smith is also missing the IPL 2018 season as well. Smith was earlier retained by Rajasthan Royals as their skipper for the season, but the franchise later named Ajinkya Rahane as their skipper for the season. Rajasthan has not been doing well in this season as they are languishing at the bottom and their top four qualification now seems very tough.