3 possible replacements for Steve Smith as a Test captain

Tim Paine

Barely six months ago, Tim Paine was nowhere close to the Australian team. In fact, he was not even a part of the Tasmanian team for Sheffield Shield. But, the Australian selectors took a gamble by picking him as the wicketkeeper for the Ashes and the 33-year-old repaid the faith the selectors had in him by performing consistently with the bat and with the gloves.

When the ball tampering incident took place in the third Test, Paine was named the Australian captain for day 4 after Steve Smith stepped down from captaincy for the remainder of the match. Adding to that, he was named the captain of the Australian team for the fourth Test in Johannesburg.

Paine can easily play for two more years and in all likelihood, he will be given the captaincy till the time Smith is banned and will hand over the reigns to the New South Welshman when his two-year captaincy ban is over.