Durham allrounder confirmed as successor to Joe Root
Alan Gardner28-Apr-2022Ben Stokes has been named as England men’s Test captain. Stokes was the preferred candidate to take on the job after Joe Root’s resignation following five years in the role.England’s leading allrounder, and one of the few players sure of their place in the XI, Stokes becomes the 81st captain of the men’s Test team. His appointment was recommended by Rob Key, the new managing director of men’s cricket, and approved by the ECB on Tuesday evening.”I had no hesitation in offering the role of Test captain to Ben,” Key said. “He epitomises the mentality and approach we want to take this team forward into the next era of red-ball cricket. I am delighted that he has accepted, and he is ready for the added responsibility and the honour. He thoroughly deserves the opportunity.”Related
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Stokes takes charge of an England side that have won just one of their last 17 Tests, going five series without a victory for the first time in history. They are currently bottom of the 2021-23 World Test Championship.Stokes has captained in one Test previously, a defeat to West Indies when Root was on paternity leave in 2020. Although he said during the winter tour of Australia that he was not interested in the captaincy, he acknowledged being in the frame when writing about Root’s decision to step down in his newspaper column last week.”I am honoured to be given the chance to lead the England Test team,” he said. “This is a real privilege, and I’m excited about getting started this summer.”I want to thank Joe [Root] for everything he has done for English cricket and for always being a great ambassador for the sport all across the world. He has been a massive part of my development as a leader in the dressing room, and he will continue to be a key ally for me in this role.”Key added his own endorsement of Root’s tenure while speaking at Lord’s on Thursday, describing his leadership of the team through the challenges of Covid, all the while producing a haul of runs that included an England record tally of 1708 in the 2021 calendar year, as “one of the great sporting achievements”.”It won’t be up there with winning the World Cup,” Key said. “But to play in a team that has been struggling, living in this pandemic, being captain, having to do so much and score the runs he’s scored – you have no idea how great an achievement that has been and then the fact that he is still now asking ‘How can I help Ben Stokes’ … what he has done has been unbelievable. Joe Root is so important to English cricket, and he’ll have a massive hand to play.”There had been concerns about Stokes’ workload, as a key player in all three formats and following a break from the game for mental health reasons in 2021. Fellow allrounders Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff both experienced unhappy spells as captain, but Key suggested that “the time is absolutely right” for Stokes to take the reins.