SYDNEY: Pat Cummins shaped up as the frontrunner Saturday to take over from disgraced former Australia Test skipper Tim Paine, with the likes of Mark Taylor, Dennis Lillie, and Steve Waugh all singing his praises. The 28-year-old, who has served as vice-captain in both Test and white-ball formats since 2019, is widely seen as being in a two-way race with Steve Smith to assume the reins after Paine’s shock departure over a sexting scandal. He stepped down after a series of sexually graphic text message exchanges with a Cricket Tasmania employee in 2017 came to light, despite being cleared by cricket authorities of any offence at the time.Smith, who was stripped of the captain’s armband and banned for a year after a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018 which culminated with Paine taking over, has support to complete a remarkable career revival. But Cummins appears to be the heir apparent, with Smith tipped to be his deputy for the upcoming home Ashes series against arch-rivals England. If appointed, Cummins will become the first specialist fast bowler to captain the side since Ray Lindwall did so for a single Test in 1956. Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley said Saturday the process to select a new captain was already in place, with Paine expected to retire after the Ashes regardless. “As well as captaining capability on the field … values of respect and inclusion, of making sport and Australians proud, are absolutely going to be at the forefront of the criteria we apply,” he said. Former captain and Cricket Australia board director Mark Taylor said he expected the governing body would make a clean break with the past given the circumstances in which Paine quit. “I think CA will probably want to go for someone fresh and clean. The timing will make it a more comfortable decision for CA to make Pat the captain. It will be hard to go back after another controversy to Steve,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald Saturday.Fast bowling great Lillie is also a big fan, having mentored Cummins in recent years. “He’s an intelligent guy but more than that, he’s got real cricket smarts,” he told cricket.com.au before Paine’s announcement. Cricket Australia admits mistake not axing Paine earlier: Cricket Australia chairman Richard Freudenstein Saturday admitted the governing body should have axed Tim Paine as Test captain in 2018 after a sexting scandal that “sent the wrong message that this kind of behaviour is acceptable”. Paine abruptly quit on Friday, just weeks ahead of the Ashes series against England, over a series of lewd text messages with a female colleague in 2017 that he had learnt was about to be made public. The incident was investigated in 2018 but Paine was cleared by Cricket Tasmania and CA’s integrity unit of breaching their code of conduct and was able to stay on.Freudenstein, who was elected to the board in 2019, insisted Paine would not have survived as captain in 2018 under the sport’s current administration. “While I cannot speak about the original decision-making in 2018 … with the benefit of all relevant information about this matter, Cricket Australia would not make the same decision today,” he said at a press conference. “I acknowledge that the decision clearly sent the wrong message to the sport, to the community and to Tim — that this kind of behaviour is acceptable and without serious consequences. The role of Australia captain must be held to the highest standards,” he added.Paine took over the Test captaincy in March 2018 in the wake of the “Sandpaper-gate” scandal that rocked Australian cricket. Then-captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were forced to step down for their roles in trying to alter the ball with sandpaper during a Cape Town Test and were suspended for a year.