Steve Smith’s redemption story: From Sandpapergate to a return to the Australian captaincy

You would not have tipped it seven long years ago when banned by Cricket Australia for two years after the Sandpapergate scandal – but Steve Smith’s redemption story is almost complete.

Steve Smith being handed the captaincy of Australia’s Test team to Sri Lanka is another satisfying chapter in the redemption of a man who went to hell and back.

Not so much a gold studded moment or anything that is going to make historians wobble at the knees but a tribute to his longevity and quietly rebuilt reputation.

You certainly would not have tipped it seven long years ago when Smith was banned by Cricket Australia for two years from leadership positions after Sandpapergate in South Africa.

“That two-year ban is our way of saying he won’t captain Australia again,’’ one CA board member told me.

No one thought Steve Smith would return to the captaincy after the Sandpapergate scandal.

Well here he is, seven years later taking the reins from Pat Cummins – who is likely to be absent for the birth of his second child.

It is a well-deserved honour for several reasons.

When Smith deputised for Cummins in two Tests on the last tour of India he did an exceptional job, winning one Test and drawing the other.

He has played 20 Tests in Asia and reads conditions well as captains must do there because local conditions require so many subtle field changes to slow bowlers.

And you could argue he is a better captain now than when he was full-time captain of Australia because he is more relaxed and worldly.

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Steve Smith is congratulated by Pat Cummins after his century in the Boxing Day Test. Picture: Getty

Before Cummins took over as Test captain he said he wanted Smith as vice-captain and Smith has been a success in this role in which he is happy to be the man in the background.

An underrated feature of most successful Test teams is a good vice-captain devoid of personal ambition who is content to serve in the shadows behind the skipper as Rod Marsh did to Ian Chappell, Geoff Marsh did to Allan Border and Smith has done with Cummins.

Smith has done the role without any sense of ambition to return to the top job.

Smith getting the captaincy in Sri Lanka means his fellow vice-captain to Cummins, Travis Head stays in that role.

It also raises the question of whether Australia has any plans for its next full-time captain because Smith, quite clearly, is not that man. This is very much a stop gap appointment.

Head is the favourite to be the next skipper but there is also a theory that the selectors might just let Travis be Travis and let the free-spirit enjoy his journey without putting too much pressure on him.

There is a chance the next full-time leader may not even be in the team.

Nathan McSweeney, much admired as a leader by the selectors, has captaincy potential if he can fight his way back into the team.

Originally published as Steve Smith’s redemption story: From Sandpapergate to a return to the Australian captaincy