Members of Ashes-winning attack in contention to be Paine's deputy as Australia consider candidates ahead of Pakistan Tests
Bowlers 'open' to vice-captaincy: Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood believes there's no reason why a bowler can’t be appointed vice-captain of the Test team, with Australia set to mull over the candidates for the vacant role in the coming months.
With no Test cricket until October, Australia are in no hurry to select a deputy for newly-appointed Test skipper Tim Paine.
It means there will be plenty of time for consideration before picking the player who will play a major role in helping to rebuild the image of the national side alongside Paine and new coach Justin Langer in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Bowling captains have been in rarity in Australia; no specialist bowler has led the Test side since leg-spinner Richie Benuad (who was, admittedly, an accomplished allrounder) more than 50 years ago, while Shane Warne is the most recent in the limited-overs arena, leading the ODI team 11 times in the late 1990s.
Globally, paceman Jason Holder is West Indies' current Test and ODI skipper, spinner Greame Cremer led Zimbabwe in all formats before his controversial recent sacking while England appointed Jimmy Anderson as their Test vice-captain after Ben Stokes was stood down last year.
While wicketkeeper-captains are not quite as uncommon, the appointment of Paine as the Test skipper (and interim one-day captain) reflects a desire to find the right people to lead regardless of their on-field roles.
The new Test vice-captain, whose appointment needs to be ratified by Cricket Australia's board, isn't expected to be named for a few months; their next assignment in the longest format is a trip to the United Arab Emirates to play Pakistan ahead of the Australian summer.
The likes of top-order players Mitch Marsh, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb, all of whom captain their state sides, along with Shaun Marsh could all conceivably be in contention.
But all four of those players have either lost their spot in the Test side recently (Handscomb was dropped during the Ashes and Khawaja was axed for the preceding Bangladesh tour) or only last summer earned recalls (the Marsh brothers).
Australia's Ashes-winning bowling attack would appear more stable than the batting group, with Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon playing all nine Tests over the summer and Mitchell Starc missing only two.
As Hazlewood, speaking to News Corp, pointed out: "A lot of the batters are starting off or at different parts of their careers.
"The bowling attack is steady and we’ve all pretty much cemented our spots in the team."
Hazlewood said he and his fellow bowlers are "open" to taking on the vice-captaincy, but vowed to continue acting as leaders regardless of who's given the official title.
"I think leadership comes pretty naturally to me," said Hazlewood.
"Even over the last couple of years, it’s become a very different team to when I started and I’ve become a leader pretty early on in my career.
"Whether the VC title is next to our name isn’t going to change too much with how we go about things as a bowling unit working with Painey … but we’re obviously open to it and we’ll see what happens."
Former captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner are sidelined until March next year following March’s events in Cape Town, with the former also barred from the captaincy for a further 12 months.
Warner's sanctions dictate that he's never to hold any leadership position for the remainder of his career.
Qantas tours of England and Zimbabwe
ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye
T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth
Qantas Tour of England
June 7: Warm-up v Sussex, Hove (D/N)
June 9: Warm-up v Middlesex, Lord's
June 13: First ODI, The Oval (D/N)
June 16: Second ODI, Cardiff
June 19: Third ODI, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 21: Fourth ODI, Durham (D/N)
June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford
June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)
Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Monday, July 2: Pakistan vs Australia
Tuesday, July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Wednesday, July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Thursday, July 5: Pakistan vs Australia
Friday, July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 8: Final