OOOH, AHHH
Mcgrath reveals who should replace Paine
FAST bowling legend Glenn Mcgrath has urged Australia not to overburden Pat Cummins with the Test captaincy if Tim Paine is injured, believing Steve Smith is the obvious choice.
It is understood Australia is leaning towards endorsing Cummins as its next Test captain, even though no specialist Australian fast man has led the team since Ray Lindwall did it on a one-off basis against India in 1956-57.
Paine underwent neck surgery this week and, while he is expected to be fit for the first Test at the Gabba in November, his fitness scare has placed the onus on Australia to have a back-up plan.
Speaking with the gravitas of his 563-wicket Test career on Fox Cricket’s Road To The Ashes podcast, Mcgrath said Cummins was “next in line’’ but he would go for Smith.
“Pat Cummins has been around for a long time and knows the game so well,’’ Mcgrath said.
“I have a theory that fast bowlers obviously can be captain – they are probably the most intelligent players in the team – but when a batsman is batting he can concentrate solely on his batting.
“A bowler has to think about who is bowling at the other end, what changes are coming up and where the game is heading.
“I just think the workload is probably a little bit … you want him (Cummins) concentrating 100 per cent on his bowling. That is why I think it should be a batsman … to give them something to do while they are in the field.
“Steve Smith should be captain again. To me he is the obvious choice on merit.’’
Smith was banned from the captaincy for two years after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, and Cricket Australia fears a public backlash if he is reinstated.
Also speaking on the podcast, former English fast bowler Darren Gough said he did not expect Australia would go for Cummins but felt that batting captains were often overrated.
“Pat Cummins seems a great bloke to me and someone who knows what he is talking about,’’ Gough said.
“I would have no problems if he was captaining Australia, especially against England.
“For some reasons batsmen have this aura about them where they are the really intelligent private schoolboys. They have got to captain the side and lead from the front. But I think they are more complicated than bowlers. They really complicate things. “One of the things about fast bowlers is we get pigeon holed but I actually think we have got great cricket brains. We have a lot to offer within a dressing room and on the field as well.”