Travis Head, Steve Smith the top contenders to take captaincy should Pat Cummins miss Sri Lanka tour

Brothers in arms at the crease on Sunday, Travis Head and Steve Smith could soon be going head-to-head for the right to take the reins of the Australian Test team.

Travis Head and Steve Smith were brothers in arms at the crease on Sunday but soon enough Australian selectors may have to decide who is best placed to captain their country.

Pat Cummins has flagged the prospect he may miss one or both of Australia’s two Tests in Sri Lanka starting in late January due to the birth of his second child.

Given Head joined Smith as a vice-captain of the Test team a year ago, the decision over who would step up as skipper in Cummins’ absence is far from straight forward.

If there was no World Test Championship Final to play for, then giving Head a taste of the top job would be hard to argue with given he is the younger man and the forward thinking option at 30 years of age.

Steve Smith (L) and Travis Head share a hug following Smith’s century on Day 2 of the Gabba Test. Picture: Getty

However, with potentially so much on the line for what will be a heavy-duty tour of Sri Lanka, the credentials of 35-year-old Smith, one of the sharpest and most experienced tactical minds in the game, are compelling.

Smith did an outstanding job filling in for Cummins on last year’s tour of India, as Australia turned the ship around with a win and a draw in the final two Tests.

However, selectors are obviously intrigued by Head’s leadership qualities and as it stands he is the most important batsman in this Australian side.

Head has a completely different personality to Smith but he is a popular team man and a unifying and uplifting presence in the dressing room.

Pat Cummins could miss one or both Tests in Sri Lanka, due to the birth of his second child. Picture: Getty

Sunday was an example of how well Head and Smith complement each other.

Head’s unencumbered approach to the game appeared to free Smith from his shackles and the tempo they created at the crease was compelling.

There is a feeling Head may shift up to open the batting in Sri Lanka and he will therefore be critical to Australia’s fortunes in a country where they have really struggled on recent tours.

Head is only one year younger than Cummins so not necessarily the obvious successor to the big fast bowler once he decides to step down as Australian captain.

Depending on when Cummins pulls the pin, there may be a younger candidate who has come onto the horizon.

There is no doubt the Australian hierarchy would love Nathan McSweeney to put himself into that position, but at the moment the youngster has a major fight on his hands just to secure his place in the playing XI as he continues to be outclassed by Jasprit Bumrah.

It’s also hard to predict Smith’s future, even beyond this series. He has said it himself now on countless occasions that he isn’t thinking too far ahead.

His magnificent fighting century in Brisbane to surpass Steve Waugh on the all-time hundreds list was a timely reminder of what a champion cricketer he is and his modest yet pulsating celebration showed just how much this innings meant to him.

Steve Smith’s century was an emotional one on Sunday. Picture: Getty

But whether or not this is an indication he is close to the end or that this is only the beginning of a rich twilight to his record-breaking career is anyone’s guess.

Smith is now less than 200 runs from entering the 10,000 run club that he so thoroughly deserves to be honoured by.

Perhaps breaking his hundred drought might be all the impetus he needs to fight on to next summer’s home Ashes, but there’s another school of thought that maybe the 10,000-run mark could be enough and, after Sunday, that could now easily happen before the end of this Indian series.

Australia needs Smith and his expertise against spin in Sri Lanka. But will selectors choose him to be captain?

Certainly there’s no way Australia will put anything else on the plate of Marnus Labuschagne who just needs to focus on reclaiming his best days as a batsman and for that reason, it’s hard to see Labuschagne ever captaining Australia.

Once touted as a future Test captain, it’s hard to see the role ever materialising for Marnus Labuschagne. Picture: Getty

David Warner’s pre-Test assessment that he didn’t think Labuschagne was back to his best might have sounded harsh in light of the right-hander’s gutsy, match-defining knock in Adelaide – but he wasn’t wrong either.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer and Labuschagne needs more than one fighting half century to turn around the trough of form he has been battling for the past two years.

What Adelaide did show though was how much stronger Australia is as a side when Labuschagne is firing.

Originally published as Travis Head, Steve Smith the top contenders to take captaincy should Pat Cummins miss Sri Lanka tour