Smith wants to captain Australia again

Canberra: More than three years on from the ball-tampering scandal, Steve Smith is keen for another chance to captain Australia, as long as Cricket Australia want him in the job.

Smith, 31, was banned from playing international cricket for 12 months and made ineligible from holding a leadership position with the national team for two years in the wake of the Cape Town affair, but has returned to the team as a mainstay in both white-ball and Test cricket.

With Test captain Tim Paine having turned 36 over the summer, and white-ball skipper Aaron Finch now 34, the question of who will next captain Australia in all three formats is squarely on the agenda. National vice-captain Pat Cummins

has been trialled as captain in one-day cricket by NSW but Australia have historically eschewed giving the national captaincy to a fast bowler.

Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey have all had vice-captaincy stints but all lost their positions on the back of indifferent form.

That has created greater urgency around the situation and means Smith, who along with Marnus Labuschagne remains Australia’s pre-eminent batsman, is in the frame.

He had long been non-committal about whether he would one day return to the position, but is now clear that he is keen.

“I’ve certainly had a lot of time to think about it and I guess now I’ve got to a point where if the opportunity did come up again I would be keen,” Smith told News Corp.

“If it was what Cricket Australia wanted and it was what was best for the team at the time, it’s certainly something I would be interested in now, that’s for sure.

“I’m always going to have to live with Cape Town regardless of whether I lead again or not. It’s always there.

“I’ve been through all that now. Time keeps moving forward, and I’ve learnt so much the last few years about myself and grown as a human being.”