Reinstating Smith as Australia captain will solely add to the circus, says Ian Healy

If Steve Smith is reinstated as captain of the Australian Test squad for the upcoming Ashes following Tim Paine’s exit after the sexting scandal it’ll solely “add to the circus”, stated former wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy.
Paine had stepped down as Australia’s Test skipper on final Friday after it emerged that he had despatched unsolicited express picture of himself together with a string of lewd messages to a feminine co-worker in 2017, months earlier than he was made captain.
Smith, whom Paine had changed as captain following the ball-tampering scandal in 2018, has now emerged as one of many candidates for the captaincy function. However, Healy stated making Smith captain once more received’t assist Australian cricket.
“We’re going to add to the circus by Steve Smith being appointed after that (the Tim Paine episode),” Healy instructed Sportsday with Satts and Jase on Tuesday. “I’ve got no problems with Steve Smith captaining Australia again; he paid a heavy price for just being a lazy captain, that’s about all he was guilty of.”

Smith together with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have been handed bans by Cricket Australia for his or her respective roles within the sandpaper gate episode in Cape Town, which rocked Australian cricket in 2018. “Too many people around there think he was actually in there scratching that ball in South Africa, but if they’ve forgotten what happened he just wasn’t aware enough as captain to pull the reigns in and stop what was going to happen,” Healy stated.
“That was his (Smith) crime, and he got a year (ban) for it. So, I’ve got no problems, but I don’t think he needs to come in as vice-captain or straight after Paine’s indiscretion.”
On Paine’s choice to step down, Healy stated, “Paine resigned of his own (choice), Cricket Australia said he could stay and the coach wanted him to stay on, (but) he just didn’t want to be a distraction in this circus.” Smith, who has scored 7540 runs at a mean of 61.8 in 77 Tests, captained Australia in 34 Tests, guiding the workforce to 18 wins, 10 losses and 6 attracts.
The first Ashes Test begins at Brisbane on December 8.