Ashes: Steve Smith to captain Australia, Pat Cummins ruled out due to Covid scare

In a dramatic turn of events, Steve Smith will lead Australia in the 2nd Ashes Test in Adelaide after Pat Cummins was ruled out after being deemed as a close contact of a Covid-19 positive person. He will isolate for 7 days.

Cummins was appointed as the Australian Test skipper before the 1st Test vs England after Tim Paine stepped down following a sexting scandal. Smith, who was stripped as the skipper due to the ball-tampering saga in 2018, was named as Cummins' deputy. Travis Head will be the vice-captain for the Adelaide Test while pacer Michael Neser will make his debut.

Cricket Australia confirmed that Cummins did not breach any bio-security protocols as he had gone out for dinner to an Adelaide restaurant on Wednesday evening. He also took an RT-PCR test, which came out to be negative. Australia lead the 5-match series 1-0.

Also read: Ashes 2nd Test: David Warner fit to play, Jhye Richardson to replace Hazlewood