Former Australian cricketer Mark Taylor has backed Cricket Australia’s (CA) decision to name Steve Smith as the vice-captain of the Test side, saying that the latter’s return to the leadership role could heal old wounds.
Cricket Australia (CA) named Pat Cummins as their 47th Men’s Test captain on Friday (26th November). The decision to name the new Test skipper came after Tim Paine stepped down following his sexting scandal.
Apart from naming Cummins as the Test captain, CA also named Steve Smith as the vice-captain for Australia in the longest format of the game.
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The decision to bring Steve Smith back into the leadership role came as a surprise to many. Following the ball-tampering saga of 2018, he was banned from playing cricket for a year and was also was handed a two-year leadership ban.
It was believed that he won't get a leadership gig again even after the punishment time based on CA's statements and the Australian public's reaction to the incident at that time.
However, former Australian skipper Mark Taylor backed CA’s decision to name Steve Smith as the vice-captain of the Test side, saying that it’s an opportunity for the latter to be involved in the game as the leader and this will also help heal the wounds from Cape Town.
"He'd be foolish to think he'll ever win everyone back again. I don't think he'd be too disappointed, he may well have wanted to become captain again, but I don't see Steve Smith at home bashing the desk.
“He's got an opportunity now to be involved in the game as a leader, albeit not as openly. I think if he does a lot of good things, which I'm sure he will for Australian cricket, it will even help heal the wounds from Cape Town nearly four years ago,” Mark Taylor told the Sydney Morning Herald.
While talking about Pat Cummins being the Test skipper, Taylor said that every ex Australian skipper had a similar plan of captain running the team but now with a fast bowler being the new captain the leadership dynamic will be different from the past.
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“I think he's handling it the right way. This is going to be very different. I think all of us ex-captains, in a way we've had a similar type plan - the captain runs the cricket team.
“Straight away Pat's already setting the ground rules that this will be different, so all of us who have an opinion on how the Australian cricket team should be run have to think a little bit differently because this will be a changing of the guard,” he said.
Both Pat Cummins and Steve Smith will take over the leadership role when Australia will take on England in the first match of the Ashes 2021-22 at Gabba on 8th December.
(Reuters inputs)
