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Australia men’s chief selector George Bailey has confirmed that Steven Smith will lead the Test team if Pat Cummins were to miss out on any Tests in the upcoming 2025 Ashes.

The much-anticipated historical five-Test series begins on November 21 in Perth. Cummins is still recovering from stress injuries in his back and is all but certain to miss the opener. He’s said to be targeting a return for the second Test (December 4-8) at the Gabba or the third (December 17-21) in Adelaide.

Since the infamous Sandpaper Gate incident in 2018, when Smith was removed from captaincy, he has led the team on an interim basis six times, overseeing five wins and one draw — in the mundane Ahmedabad Test of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the flattest pitch of the series.

“If Pat

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