Pat Cummins named Australia Test captain as Paine takes break

Sydney: Australia named paceman Pat Cummins as their Test captain and Steve Smith as deputy on Friday after a sexting scandal led Tim Paine to quit the post last week.

Cummins appointment came hours after it was announced that former captain Paine will take a break from the sport.

With this, Pat becomes 47th captain of Australian men's Test team while Smith returns to a key leadership role, having been forced to stand down as skipper for his part in the 2018 "Sandpaper-gate" ball-tampering scandal. 

Cummins, 28, is the first fast bowler to lead Australia since 1956.

"When it comes to moral character, I am my own harshest judge," said Cummins, who takes on one of the highest-profile roles in Australia.

"I am not perfect and there will be things that pop up, but as long as I can sleep at night, I am really comfortable with the rest of that."

Cummins is one of the world's premier bowlers. But he has little experience as a leader, despite being elevated to vice-captain in 2019.

Paine steps away

Earlier Friday, Cricket Tasmania said that the 36-year-old Paine would immediately leave all forms of the game for the "foreseeable future".  

The Tasmanian wicketkeeper quit as Test captain a week ago over the public revelation of an exchange of sexually graphic text messages with a female colleague in 2017.