After enduring horrendous form with the bat for the last 12 months, Aaron Finch recently called quits on his ODI career after Australia registered an emphatic 3-0 clean sweep of New Zealand at home. With Finch's sudden decision to walk away from the 50-over format, the Baggy Greens are left with a crucial decision to make: who should be his successor?
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has now revealed who is the front-runner to replace Finch as the ODI skipper of the Baggy Greens. Ponting picked Test captain Pat Cummins to take over the leadership role in ODIs moving forward.
"I think it’ll be Pat Cummins, to be honest," Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
"I know he doesn’t play all the ODIs for obvious reasons, because his workload in Test cricket has been, like all the fast bowlers, very high in the last few years.
"I know they are very conscious of making sure that they’ve got Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc a 100 percent fit and healthy for the big Test series to come around.
"But look, I’ll be surprised if it wasn’t Pat Cummins," he opined.
Earlier, Finch's opening partner David Warner had clarified his intention by saying that he is ready for the leadership role and to have conversations with the Australian cricket board regarding his leadership ban. After the Sandpaper-gate scandal in 2018, Steve Smith, who was the captain of the national side back then, was handed a two-year ban from leadership duties while Warner was subjected to a life-long ban.
While Smith is now the vice-captain of the Baggy Greens in Test cricket, Warner continues to be out of the leadership contention. Ponting compared Warner's case with Smith's and batted for the former to be among the contenders to take up captaincy in the future.
"I’m just basing this on what’s happened with Steve Smith – he is now the Test vice-captain again, having been the captain and really at the centre of the whole controversy in Cape Town," Ponting noted.
"He is now the Test vice-captain, which means obviously that if Pat Cummins ever misses a Test, then Steve Smith is going to be the captain of Australia again in Test match cricket.
"So, if that’s the case, and all being even and reasonably fair, then I think it would be OK, as far as I’m concerned, for David Warner to have his name (in the ring).
“Not saying that they have to make him captain, but he should be able to be in the conversation," he added.
