The Third Test at Cape Town in Australia’s tour to South Africa rocked the cricket world and caused a cricketing earth-quake in Australia. While the reactions from the rest of the world were that of a somber tone, Australia was seething heavily on the perpetrators of the sandpaper gate. The ball-tampering saga was taken up and the guilty trio of Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, and Steven Smith was handed longtime bans from cricket.

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The most severe ban was reserved for the vice-captain and the captain of the team. Steven Smith was removed from the captaincy position on the fourth-day end itself and it was Tim Paine who led the troops on the fifth day of the Test and also in the fourth Test. With Smith out for one year, it is time for Australia to look for the options of replacing Steve.

Here are a few nominations –

Test Captaincy

Tim Paine:

Perhaps, the most obvious choice in the current circumstances. Tim Paine’s return to the team as a wicketkeeper itself surprised everyone as the 33-year old was not even in contention for his state team. But if not magically, Tim Paine has risen to become the first choice for becoming the Test captain of Australia.

The only caveat to this development is of the news of Tim Paine’s finger injury. The keeper got injured while he was keeping wickets against Chad Sayers. This may pose a few problems for Cricket Australia since their top two options in David Warner and Steve Smith are not even available for selection until April 2019.

Mitchell Marsh:

The younger of the Marsh brothers also has a small chance for leading out as the next Australian Test captain with the backing of his performances in the Australian domestic circuit. Mitchell Marsh impressed the selectors with his twin centuries in the recent home Ashes series. he compiled a well-made 96 against South Africa too.

The only worry for Mitchell will be that his spot in the Test team, much like Paine has been a recent phenomenon. Not being a specialist, he is an easy target to dispense to settle the team balance. Looking at his performances for Western Australia team, he is one of the contenders.

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ODI Captaincy

Aaron Finch:

The most probable contender to take Steven Smith’s role in the limited overs setup of Australia is the opener/middle order batsman Aaron Finch. The batsman is one of the most experienced players in the Australian set-up currently and has played a role of the national captain briefly.

Aaron Finch has captained his state team Victoria in first-class cricket, it is one of the oldest and the strongest state cricket team in the world. The experience at the helm will help Finch in leading the World Cup champion team.