SYDNEY (AFP)
Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting are the leading contenders to succeed Steve Waugh as captain of Australia's one-day team.

Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland said on Wednesday that 36-year-old Waugh would not be chosen in the team for the seven-match one-day series in South Africa starting next month.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Waugh had been dropped as the selectors make a priority of the 2003 World Cup title defence after the disappointment of not making the finals of this month's triangular series against South Africa and New Zealand.

Warne's credentials are the most interesting if the selectors want him to lead Australia in their World Cup defence in South Africa. His captaincy is still rated highly by the selectors, but he will again have to win over the Australian Cricket Board's 14 directors, some of whom are not enamoured by his past off-field behaviour.

The directors, who must approve a recommendation from the selectors, preferred Gilchrist to lead the one-day team last summer for three matches in Waugh's absence through injury. Warne last captained Australia in 1998-99, when he led the team through the entire home triangular series, including the finals wins over England.

He has since had off-field troubles in Wellington, when he allegedly tried to grab a camera from a teenager who photographed him smoking. Then came the much-publicised phone-sex incident in England, which appeared to be the last straw for Warne's captaincy claims. Earlier, Warne and team-mate Mark Waugh had admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker.

In contrast, Gilchrist has been the model player on and off the field, and the ACB directors have been impressed, appointing him to lead Australia in two Tests while Waugh was injured. Gilchrist must overcome doubts over whether he can manage the fulltime captaincy along with his batting and wicketkeeping responsibilities.

Ponting has his best chance to lead his country for the first time after years of being labelled the heir apparent. He has toned down his off-field activities in recent years since he was involved in a fight at a Sydney nightspot after a one-day game.

Ponting's position is not in doubt, and he is rated as a good cricket thinker with plenty of time left in the international arena.

Hohns said the new captain would not be named until the one-day squad for the South African tour was chosen within a week.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd