Former Australia captain Ian Chappell feels it would be a move “backwards” for the Aussies if they reinstate Smith at the helm.
Smith, who was banned from representing Australia after proven involvement in the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering incident, was also barred from captaining the nation for two years by Cricket Australia.
Since then, Aaron Finch in white-ball cricket and Tim Paine in Tests have been captains for Australia. However, with the two, especially Paine, reaching the fag end of their careers, there have been calls from certain sections to have Smith back.
Chappell, though, feels Australia should be wary of going down that path as he reckons Smith isn’t the right person to be leading Australia again. The legendary figure said so during an exclusive interview with the Wide World Of Sports, explaining:
“I think it’s time to move on. To me, if you go back to Smith, you’re going backwards. It’s time to look ahead, not in the rear-vision mirror.”
Chappell also talked about Cameron Bancroft’s revelation recently that bowlers were also aware of Australia’s illegal tactics at Newlands and made a larger point as to why that shouldn’t impact Pat Cummins, who has emerged as a unanimous choice to become Australia’s next captain.
Bancroft, one of the three central figures of the ball-tampering incident, had said during an interview with the Guardian, it’s “self-explanatory” that even the likes of Cummins and other members of the attack were also aware of the mishappenings.
Chappell sympathised with Bancroft, saying it must be on his “chest for a while”, but added that those comments shouldn’t affect Cummins in any possible way as it was Smith’s responsibility to ensure it never comes down to the use of sandpaper on the field.
“If people start jumping up and down about Pat Cummins captaining Australia if he knew, well the answer is pretty clear because it falls back on Smith. He’s the bloke who should have stopped it. The captain’s got the overall say and power to stop it, and he didn’t.”
“I don’t think it should count against Pat Cummins, even if they decide the bowlers did know. Smith is the bloke who should have made sure the whole thing never started,”
Chappell concluded.
