Batting mainstay Steve Smith on Saturday emerged as one of the candidates for Australian Test captaincy after the selectors had reportedly approached the country’s cricket board with a proposal to hand over the reins to the former skipper.

Though vice-captain Pat Cummins remains the frontrunner for the top job, Smith is also in the reckoning, the country’s cricket board said following the resignation of Tim Paine from the top job. Paine succeeded Smith as captain in 2018 after the batter was banned from international cricket for 12 months and suspended from leadership roles for two years for his role in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.