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Steve Smith’s potential return to captaincy during the Ashes has left Australia open to ridicule, according to Shane Warne.
Several former players have been critical of the decision to appoint Smith as Pat Cummins’ vice-captain less than four years since he lost the captaincy for his part in Australia’s ball-tampering shame in South Africa.
And Warne has been at the front of the queue, writing of Smith in his Herald Sun column: ‘In my opinion announcing him as vice-captain opens up Cricket Australia for ridicule and criticism.’
Steve Smith (right) has been appointed as Pat Cummins’ vice-captain for Ashes series
Normally it is England engulfed in crisis on the eve of an Ashes series but Tim Paine’s lewd sex text scandal has triggered a series of events that has led to the integrity of the Australian team being scrutinised ahead of the opening Test in Brisbane on December 8.
Ian Chappell lambasted Cricket Australia for not making a clean break when selecting Cummins as their first fast bowler as permanent Test captain and reopened old wounds in questioning why David Warner’s misdemeanours were seen as greater than those of Smith in 2018’s sandpaper-gate.
While Smith was given a two-year leadership ban for turning a blind eye to events in Cape Town that
