Steve Smith has been announced as the stand-in captain of the Australian Test side for the remaining series against India.
Becoming the 45th Test captain and the third youngest of all time Smith has been rewarded for his good form, attitude for the game and popularity. Steve Smith has been named the permanent vice-captain of the side in a long-term move by Cricket Australia with 37-year old Brad Haddin to act as vice-captain in Clarke’s absence.
Smith has been widely tipped to take over the captaincy from Michael Clarke, but until now there have been no official moves by Cricket Australia to prepare for change. The 25-year old Smith has only recently secured his spot in the first XI but has impressed selectors and fans with a number of patient innings and enthusiastic displays of teamwork.
“These are difficult circumstances given Michael’s injury and the fact that we don’t know how long he will be out of the game,” national selector Rod Marsh said. “What we do know is that it won’t be an overnight fix so after a lot of thought we have taken the opportunity to appoint an emerging young leader as captain until such time as Michael regains fitness and returns to the side.
There was a strong argument for Brad to assume the captaincy until Michael returns, but given we don’t know how long that will be, we felt the time was right to take a longer-term view and give a young player this chance.”
Personally averaging 64 runs from his last 6 innings, he has recently demonstrated the ability to exceed expectations beyond his own years and experience. Smith has captained NSW in One Day and Sheffield Shield matches, batting himself at number three. While this is not his current batting position, part of his new role will no doubt be sharing his thoughts with selectors.
With Michael Clarke contemplating his future, Steve Smith will be hoping to make the most of his opportunity on Wednesday as the postponed Brisbane Test commences with Australia leading the series 1-0.
