Pat is someone who oozes leadership: Travis Head backs Cummins to replace Tim Paine as Australia Test captain

Australia batter Travis Head has backed current vice-captain Pat Cummins to replace Tim Paine as the next Test skipper of the Australian cricket team.

Paine stepped down as captain of Australia’s test cricket team on Friday after revelations he had been investigated and cleared over sexually explicit text messages sent to a female colleague four years ago.

As vice-captain, 28-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins would be the obvious choice to replace Paine and his appointment would enable a rapid transition with the start of the Ashes series against England only three weeks away.

“Obviously, Pat’s been well spoken about, named as vice-captain, it’s hard to go past him, or give him the opportunity to, he’s someone who oozes leadership, not only in the way he presents himself and speaks and the way he goes about things and the way he trains, but also when he’s on the field,” Head said.

Recently, Cummins had said that he was ready to juggle his pace workload alongside the captaincy.

“Hopefully Tim will be fine, he’s nearing 100 per cent … but I’ll be ready if I have to, but I doubt that,” Cummins was quoted as saying by Channel Nine.

The pacer added he could always seek the counsel of experienced players in the side, like former skipper Steve Smith and David Warner, if he found the role tough.

“If I was in the role and I found it tough, at times, there are ten other guys I’d lean on out in the middle.

“You’ve got people like Smithy and Davey Warner who are incredibly experienced, all the bowlers are experienced and look after themselves pretty well, so I’d have no issues handballing it over to other people to help out.”