TIM Paine will become Australia’s 46th Test captain on Friday following Cricket Australia’s decision to strip Steve Smith of the captaincy for his involvement in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Paine acted as interim captain on the fourth and final day of the third Test at Newlands after Smith stood down from the leadership before the start of play.

Smith was suspended for one match by the International Cricket Council for “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” and has been sent home by Cricket Australia, alongside David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, leaving Paine to pick up the pieces as Australia attempt to maintain their unbeaten post-Apartheid record in South Africa when the fourth Test begins in Johannesburg on Friday.

Paine is Tasmania’s second Test captain after Ricky Ponting, the first from Hobart, and the first wicketkeeper to take on the role since Adam Gilchrist filled in for Steve Waugh and Ponting on six occasions between 2000 and 2004.

Pride has not been a word remotely associated with Australian Test cricket in recent days but the Tasmanian’s remarkable elevation to the Test captaincy has drawn a quiet sense of fulfilment for many in Tasmanian cricket.

While none hoped for or foresaw the set of circumstances that saw Paine lead a shell-shocked team on the final day at Newlands, the fact he was doing it all was an acknowledgment of his understated role since his sensational recall.

Tigers coach Adam Griffith, who incredibly had to help convince Paine to remain in Tasmania at the start of the summer rather than take up a job offer in Melbourne, endorsed the wicketkeeper as a worthy skipper.

“He’d be a good captain,” said Griffith, who oversaw a dramatic Tigers turnaround for Tasmania – from sixth to runners-up – in this year’s JLT Sheffield Shield.

“He’s very forthright; he’s very good tactically, which for me is one of the most important things to win games of cricket.