I maintain that Ponting was the first of the "talent first, tactics second" leadership appointment to the national captaincy. His generation was the first that were taken out of grade and 1st class cricket at young ages to go to the Academy (when Rod Marsh I think was in charge). And I'm not laying any blame on Rod Marsh, I think he did a great job turning some in to decent cricketers. But the upshot ended up being that a bloke like Ponting was automatically made captain of teams based purely on the fact that he was the best batsman. It was a different path to captaincy than any of his predecessors who did their time in grade and first class cricket.
There was no demonstrated leadership or tactical nous required. It was like schoolyard rules where the fastest bowler or bloke who hit most sixes was made captain. And then of course Clarke came next, much the same story, but probably tactically better than Punter. Steve Smith has no business IMO being skipper either. Strikes me as an individual who devotes all of his mental energy on his own game, and that's ok, but why thrust captaincy on him? Although he is probably better equipped now than he was the first time around.
10000% agree mang. Steve Waugh was the last Aussie captain who got the job because he was a genuine cricket captain.
Punter was a generational cricketer but a shit captain, although I do think he had good personal skills he also seemed to only apply them to his mates?
Clarke was a generational cricketer and actually a really good tactician and his broader leadership skills were obviously great (see the Phil Hughes tragedy) but his personal skills were really poor.
Smith is a rarer than generational cricketer with some form of cricketing Aspergers...
Paine is a great leader with excellent personal skills. Honestly he's probably the closest we've got to going back to naming a captain who is just a good captain no matter what else he does...but his tactics fell away dramatically the last two years. And he's not exactly bashing the door down skills-wise.
I honestly think Head is the best option. He's a better bat than Paine, so they can't use the "he's not good enough to play" line IMO and he's a genuinely good captain at Shield level. Obviously remains to be seen if that translates to the top level, but with the situation as it is why not give the guy a go?