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Time to make Steve Smith Australia's vice-captain

Steve Smith has been in average form against the white ball. (AFP PHOTO/ MARWAN NAAMANI)
Roar Guru
14th October, 2014
4

It’s time for Steve Smith to be given even greater responsibility, so the announcement that Brad Haddin would be given the captaincy should Michael Clarke succumb to injury in the upcoming Tests against Pakistan is not one I agree with.

While Haddin has plenty of experience, he is at the end of his career and the Australian captaincy shouldn’t be handed out willy-nilly, as it was to Shane Watson for one Test in India last year.

Any injury to Clarke should be seen as an opportunity to blood a long-term prospect, and Smith is the logical choice.

Smith is the only viable replacement once Clarke decides to retire, therefore we would get more value out of Smith being groomed as vice-captain now, getting him ready to take over permanently in a couple of years. Smith will then be able to draw on this experience in the future.

I can understand having George Bailey as one day captain at the moment but with Smith a permanent member of the one day team, it would make sense to give him the vice captaincy, preparing him to take over the captaincy after the World Cup.

The United Arab Emirates ODIs gave Smith the opportunity to successfully make the move up the batting order to number three. When Clarke, Watson and Mitch Marsh come back from injury, it is hard to see Bailey and even Aaron Finch being in Australia’s best ODI line-up.

So come on selectors, plan for the future by making Steve Smith vice-captain for the UAE Tests and the upcoming one-day series against South Africa.

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