Pat Cummins appointed as the Australian captain, along with Steve Smith as the Vice Captain

“It might look a little bit different from the outside potentially to other captains in the past. There’s a couple of more unknowns about having a bowling captain and that’s why from the outset I was absolutely determined if I was captain to have someone like Steve as vice-captain next to me,” Cummins told reporters.

“There will be times on the field when I throw to Steve, and you’ll see Steve moving fielders around, maybe doing bowling changes and taking a bit more of an elevated vice-captaincy and that’s what I really want.”

Cummins, who has 164 wickets in 34 Tests since his debut in 2011, has made it plain that he would rely largely on Smith, who has 77 Tests under his belt, for his on-field choices.

“There’s going to be times where I’m out in the middle, it’s a hot day, I’m in the middle of a (bowling) spell and I need to turn to people for advice for tactics, for experience, and that’s one of the big reasons I wanted Steve to be vice-captain.

“Steve’s got such huge strengths, especially around tactically out on the field and sees it differently from first slip, huge experience with spinners, bowling changes and mapping out a game so I’ll be leaning on him hugely for that.

“We’ll nut out how exactly that works, but it will be a real collaborative approach,” added Cummins whose captaincy begins with the first Ashes Test against England at the Gabba on December 8.

“It’s obviously not our decision who’s captain and who’s vice-captain. I made it pretty clear if I was given the captaincy that this is how I saw the team running and tried to bring Steve along for that as well because he’s so central to how I see my captaincy style and how I see the team functioning.

“We both got a chance to think quite a lot about it over the last few days before we presented to a couple of board members and selectors, and that was after chatting between us two as well.

“I could not think of a better bloke, and a bloke that gives you more comfort if I was to be injured or miss a game.”

Smith however accepted that his role as a vice captain may not be universally accepted.

“I think there will be some negativity from some people about it,” he said.

“I understand that. But I know that I’ve grown a great deal over the last three or four years. I’m a more rounded individual and in turn I think it’s turned me into a better leader.”

“If there’s times where Patrick hands to me and wants me to take over and do some different things on the field, I’m there for that.”

He also said a “lot of the pressure and responsibility of being perfect is unreasonable”.

“I won’t always get things right, I’m certainly not perfect.”