Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has suggested ex-skipper Steven Smith is not undermining successor Tim Paine by setting field placements and advising spinner Nathan Lyon the lines and lengths to bowl.

Smith was Australia’s captain until March last year, when involvement in ball-tampering during the tour of South Africa caused a lengthy suspension from international cricket. That ban has since ended – and Smith is in the XI for the ongoing Ashes series opener at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Smith struck a crucial century in the tourists’ first innings – and is en route to a battling half-ton in the second. He, too, was visibly proactive in Australia’s field placements and Lyon’s lines to England’s right-handed batsmen on day three.

‘He’s not captain. He’s not tossing the coin and he’s not picking the team. But an experienced guy like him with a cricket brain that he’s got, Tim would be silly to not try and tap into that and not try to use him when he can,’ Ponting told the Cricket Australia website.

‘He’s served his time as far as his playing suspension goes and everyone knows he can’t captain again until next year. He’s part of a team that is relying on him heavily for his experience, so he can help in whichever way and wherever he possibly can. And I’m sure if Paine or anyone around the team wasn’t happy with it, then it wouldn’t be happening.’

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