Test Captaincy "Not On My Radar At The Moment": Steve Smith

Steve Smith, after announcing his Test return with back-to-back centuries in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston, dismissed the idea that he was eyeing Test captaincy at the moment. Smith returned to Australian Test team after completing a 12-month ban for his involvement in ball tampering scandal in South Africa last year. Playing for the first time after serving his ban, Smith top-scored for Australia in both the innings with the scores of 144 and 142 respectively.

"It (the Test captaincy) is certainly not on my radar at the moment," Smith was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Although Smith has served his ban, he is ineligible to hold any leadership position with the team till March next year.

Smith, who has impressed everyone with his batting, describing his role in the team said, "It's just about going out there and doing my job as a batsman and scoring runs".

While denying that he has not considered the captaincy role, Smith said that he tries to use his experience and pass on the inputs to the current captain Tim Paine.

"Of course, I'm experienced now and able to help in any way that I can," the former Australia skipper said.

"(Paine) knows I'm there to help him and give him some suggestions and things like that as much as I can," Smith explained.

"If I see something I'll always go to him and try and help for the betterment of the team," he added.

Meanwhile, after trailing in the first innings by 90 runs, Australia gave England a target of 398 runs to win the Ashes opener as they declared their innings for 487/7.

Topics mentioned in this article

Steve Smith Australia Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Edgbaston, Birmingham The Ashes 2019 Cricket England vs Australia, 1st Test