Michael Clarke has backed pace spearhead Pat Cummins to be next Australian Test captain after Tim Paine’s reign comes to an end while hailing Cricket Australia’s decision to appoint the latter as the full-time vice-captain of the side in Tests.
With the 36-year-old Paine moving towards the fag end of his career, Australia would be certainly looking for a fresh captaincy and even discussions about the same have started among the cricket fraternities and at the Australia cricket board.
Many called to reinstate Steve Smith as skipper after Paine, but Clarke – who captained Australia in 47 Tests before retiring in 2015, believes that Cummins is the one for the top role.
Clarke told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Friday (December 11): “Patty's ready for it. I love that they've given him the full-time vice-captaincy.”
After the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, Smith and his deputy David Warner were expelled from their posts – captaincy and vice-captaincy respectively and Paine was named Test captain while Aaron Finch was given the limited-overs leadership.
Praising Paine and Finch’s captaincy, Clarke said: “Right now I think Finchy is doing a great job, Painey is doing a great job. So, that gives Pat Cummins the opportunity to learn and watch and sit back and see how he feels about that role and experience a few different things.”
He added, “Hopefully he gets an opportunity along the way to captain in certain games, whether it be Australia A or whether it be a tour game, whatever it is, which I'm sure he will.”
A bowler hasn’t captained Australia since Ray Lindwall in a Test against India in 1956 and Clarke rejected the notion that a batsman is better suited to the role of captaincy than a bowler.
He signed off by saying, “Not at all. These days there's so much cricket. Batsmen get injured. Bowlers get injured. Guys are going to be rested. For me, it's the right person for the job that's the most important, not whether you're a batter or bowler.”
(With PTI/AAP Inputs)
