Pat Cummins named as Australia’s new Test captain with Steve Smith appointed as his deputy

Pat Cummins has been appointed as Australia’s Test captain with Steve Smith taking over as his understudy ahead of the start of the Ashes in Brisbane on the 8^th of December. The fast bowler takes over the reins from Tim Paine – who stood down as captain and has taken an indefinite break from the game after his involvement in a recently uncovered text messaging scandal.

“I am honoured to accept this role ahead of what will be a massive Ashes summer,” said Cummins in a statement. “I hope I can provide the same leadership Tim (Paine) has given the group in the past few years. With Steve and I as captains, a number of very senior players in this squad and some great young talent coming through we are a strong and tightly knit group.”

“This is an unexpected privilege which I am very grateful for and am very much looking forward to.”

Cummins is the first pacer to be named as Australia’s full-time captain and the first bowler to be named as the Australia skipper since the late Richie Benaud. Cummins was named vice-captain in a shared capacity alongside Travis Head in 2019 before becoming the sole vice-captain of the team in 2020.

Steve Smith, on the other hand, returns in a leadership role with the Australian team as vice-captain for the first time since being sacked as Australia skipper after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018. Following the fall-out of that saga in Cape Town, Smith was banned from holding any leadership position for Australia for two years, while David Warner was handed a lifetime leadership ban for his involvement.

“I am pleased to return to the leadership of the team and look forward to helping and assisting Pat in any way I can,” said Smith in a press conference. “Pat and I have played together for a long time, so we know our respective styles well.”

Cummins and Smith were proposed as the two captaincy candidates by Australia’s selectors – Bailey and Dodemaide – and head-coach Justin Langer. The pair were later interviewed for the role by a five-member panel which consisted of interim chair Richard Freudstein, chief executive Nick Hockley, director Mel Jones and selectors George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide.

Cummins has played 33 of the 35 Tests for Australia since his comeback to the side in India in 2017 and hasn’t missed a single red ball game for the country since October 2018. Cummins is currently ranked number one in the ICC Test bowler rankings and his only previous captaincy experience came for New South Wales – whom he led in four One-Day Cup games in early 2021.