Shane Warne column: Deputy to Pat Cummins is crucial and why Steve Smith doesn’t fit the bill

Australia has gone with Steve Smith in the vice-captaincy position, but Shane Warne is adamant two players should be ahead of him, including one who is not even in the Test squad.

Australia's former captain Tim Paine during last year’s summer. Picture: AFP

It’s pretty clear the house is not in order.

So close to the Ashes but there has been so much happening off the field and with so much more to come, before a ball has even been bowled.

So much discussion about the code of conduct, what it means, who should captain Australia, slanging matches between former and current chairman of Cricket Australia, Cricket Tasmania lashing out.

Let’s take a deep breath.

The one positive is Pat Cummins will get the nod as Australia’s next Test captain.

It’s great to see a bowler has finally been given an opportunity.

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Shane Warne doesn’t endorse Steve Smith taking over the vice-captaincy of the national team.

But his deputy is just as important, maybe more important than ever before.

We all love Steve Smith and are proud that he’s the best Test batsmen in the world again.

But he should not be the Australia vice-captain.

Everyone makes mistakes, we know that and we’ve all moved on from sandpaper-gate.

But that happened under Steve Smith’s captaincy, he allowed that to happen on his watch.

I think the punishment he was given was way too severe, which I said at the time. He paid a huge price for his mistake.

But his second chance is getting to play for Australia again and in my opinion announcing him as vice-captain opens up CA for ridicule and criticism, and they should throw the code of conduct out the window.

CA has to stand for something. They made those decisions at the time — which were right in the interests of Australian cricket. So why should they go back on it now?

Warne says David Warner is Australia’s best cricket brain and cannot believe he is still overlooked when Smith isn’t.

What I don’t understand is why David Warner is the only one still being punished (unfairly) for what happened in South Africa, and the captain who allowed the sandpaper scandal to happen on his watch is now someone CA want to put back into a leadership role. It just doesn’t make sense.

Warner has the best cricket brain in that team. He’s been made the scapegoat. How can it be that the captain at that time gets a second chance, but a player doesn’t?

Which brings us to Tim Paine

I don’t think Tim Paine should have had to resign from the captaincy.

Four years ago he was cleared by a code of conduct investigation involving both CA and Cricket Tasmania.

He could have captained one more series and retired.

That’s how I was expecting things to go, even though I thought his time was up because Josh Inglis, Jimmy Pierson, Alex Carey and Matthew Wade are all younger and a better package.

One of Carey and Inglis, who have both been named in the Australia A squad, seem certain to debut in the first Ashes Test after Paine announced he was taking a break on Friday.

In so many ways, it’s time to move on, and that includes moving on from Steve Smith as an official leader.

We need to go into the Ashes now with a clean slate, not open up old wounds.

He’s a leader in the team and you don’t need a C or VC next to your name to be a leader.

Just by being in the side, Steve Smith will be a valuable asset to Pat Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne, who should be the vice-captain.

Warne says this would have been Tim Paine’s final series whatever the scenario.

Smith stands at the slips, watches the game unfold, and his experience will be great to have for a first-time captain.

It would have been great to have seen Mitchell Marsh come back into the Test team, bat at number five and be vice-captain.

He’s a mature player now, captain of his state, and we all saw what he did at the T20 World Cup. His time is now.

But seeing that is not going to happen, it’s time to move past Steve Smith, give Marnus Labuschagne the job.

He’s a lock in the team, he has leadership ambitions, let’s see how he goes. He and Pat Cummins are surrounded by experienced players to help in such a big series.

It’s time now for the cricket to do the talking. There’s too much at stake for any more distractions.

Let’s make all the decisions now, go into the Ashes with a clean slate and give the players the best chance to adjust to the new regime.

England players have been sitting back watching all the crap flying around Australian cricket, and while they have their own issues at home, they have been knuckling down, preparing for the Ashes.

It’s time to let our boys do the same.