LONDON: Star all-rounder Ben Stokes was named as England’s new Check captain on Thursday, changing Joe Root, who stood down earlier this month after a string of defeats.
The 30-year-old, who served as Root’s deputy, was the overwhelming favorite to take cost of a struggling staff that has received simply one in every of their previous 17 matches.
Stokes, whose profession is peppered with staggering performances with bat and ball, has been a loyal lieutenant to Root and made a degree of praising his buddy and predecessor in a brief assertion.
“I’m honoured to be given the possibility to steer the England Check staff,” he mentioned. “This can be a actual privilege and I’m enthusiastic about getting began this summer season.
“I need to thank Joe for every little thing he has accomplished for English cricket and for all the time being a terrific ambassador for the game all the world over. He has been a large a part of my growth as a pacesetter within the dressing room and he’ll proceed to be a key ally for me on this position.”
Root resigned after 5 years in cost following a 1-0 sequence loss within the Caribbean, which got here scorching on the heels of a humiliating 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia.
New managing director of England males’s cricket Rob Key mentioned: “I had no hesitation in providing the position of Check captain to Ben. He epitomises the mentality and method we need to take this staff ahead into the subsequent period of red-ball cricket.
“I’m delighted that he has accepted, and he’s prepared for the added duty and the honour. He completely deserves the chance.”
Stokes already has a formidable workload as an all-format, pace-bowling all-rounder and solely final yr took a psychological well being break from cricket.
He has scored greater than 5,000 Check runs and brought 174 wickets in 79 matches and can also be one of many stars of England’s white-ball groups.
New Zealand problem:
Stokes’s first match because the everlasting England captain will come in opposition to New Zealand, the nation of his delivery, initially of a three-Check sequence at Lord’s on June 2.
He beforehand captained the Check facet in a four-wicket defeat by the West Indies in Southampton two years in the past when Root was on paternity depart — his solely first-class match in cost.
However he has lengthy been thought to be a number one determine within the England dressing room and was praised for the best way he led an inexperienced facet in a 3-0 one-day worldwide sequence win at house to Pakistan final yr after a coronavirus outbreak dominated out the first-choice squad.
His promotion to the captaincy completes a exceptional turnaround for the participant, whose profession was within the steadiness when he was charged with affray following an incident exterior a Bristol nightclub in 2017 earlier than being discovered not responsible following a courtroom case.
Key remains to be seeking to appoint a everlasting head coach, though he has mentioned he’ll cut up the job into separate purple and white-ball roles.