Ashes 2019: Steve Smith says Australia captaincy is 'not on my radar'
Steve Smith insists regaining the Australia captaincy is "not on my radar" after he completed centuries in both innings of the opening Ashes Test against England.
Cricket Australia stripped Smith of the captaincy and banned the batsman for 12 months for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked cricket.
But Smith has not missed a step during his first Test back, rescuing Australia's first innings with a sublime 144 that steered the visitors to 284 from 122-8.
He was at it again at Edgbaston on Sunday, racking up 142 as Australia posted 487-7 declared to put the tourists in position for a victory that had seemed so unlikely a couple of days ago, with England needing to bat out the final day having been set 398 to win.
However, Smith has no designs on taking back the captaincy from Tim Paine and insists his immediate goal is just to help the team through his performances with the bat.
Twenty #Ashes tons between these two. Iconic pic.twitter.com/JaqNdOpZOL
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 4, 2019
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"It's certainly not on my radar at the moment [regaining the captaincy]," he told a news conference.
"It's just about going out there and doing my job as a batsman and scoring runs.
"Of course I'm experienced now and able to help Tim [Paine] in any way that I can and he knows I'm there to help him and give him some suggestions and things like that as much as I can.
"If I see something I'll always go to him and try and help for the betterment of the team."
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