Ben Stokes has agreed to be England’s next Test captain after meeting with the new director of cricket Rob Key on Tuesday and wants to recall James Anderson and Stuart Broad, a report states.
Ben Stokes set to be England’s Next Test captain
In addition to this, former South Africa cricketer Gary Kirsten is likely to take up the new red-ball head coach job for England.
According to reports by UK’s iNews, England and Wales Cricket Board will announce a new captain by the end of this week while the appointment of new head coaches will take some time as they are yet to finalise the successor of Chris Silverwood.
Durham’s director of cricket, Marcus North, backed Ben Stokes for the job. North in his statement said, “He’s a match-winner, he has moments of absolute brilliance and wins games on his own. That’s someone that you naturally, as a team-mate, will be inspired to play with and to follow.
He’s someone that wears his heart on his sleeve and gives everything he’s possibly got for England when he plays. That’s always a great quality in a leader and I have no doubt that if he gets the opportunity and he wants to take that opportunity, he’ll have the whole dressing room behind him.”
Earlier, Root stepped down on April 15, paving the way for his great friend and vice-captain to take over without feeling disloyal.
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Stokes, 32, has limited captaincy experience but was vice-captain to Root for the majority of his time in charge.
He led England to a 3-0 series victory last summer against Pakistan in white-ball cricket when the first choice squad were ruled out due to a Covid outbreak.
He captained for one Test match against West Indies in 2020 when Root was on paternity leave. England lost the match at the Ageas Bowl but Stokes did make an impression, leaving out Broad to pair Jofra Archer and Mark Wood together for the first time.
Meanwhile, England are set to return to a split-coaching structure after Mr. Key made his first major decision by advertising for two new head coaches.
The split in roles is on expected lines as Key had previously called for it while working as a pundit. Both coaches will report directly to Rob Key and be accomplished strategists with clear and ambitious plans for how they will develop and build success for English cricket moving forward.
