In the pool of contenders for the vacant Test captaincy post, England Cricket Board is believed to have picked their top three choices in the name of Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Stuart Broad. As per reports, the trio have gone under the interview process held by England’s Director of cricket Andrew Strauss and his team on Thursday.
Earlier on Monday, batsman Alastair Cook resigned from the captain’s post in aftermath of an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the hands of India. Cook, 32, came under a huge criticism after suffering such an outcome, while his former captain Andrew Strauss backed Cook’s decision saying he made a right choice as he knew he won’t be leading England for next 12 months with the same commitment.
Post an announcement of quitting captaincy, a lot a talk was done by many current and former players about their preferences for the vacant post. Though names of batsman Joe Root and bowler Stuart Broad was widely discussed.
Jason Gillespie, an ex-Yorkshire coach, batted for Root to take over the baton from Cook, while former spinner Graeme Swann put his money behind experienced Stuart Broad to lead England in Tests.
Also, country’s highest wicket-taker in longer-format James Anderson called Joe Root as an obvious choice for captaincy. However, Andrew Strauss earlier said Root is not an immediate option.
Stuart Broad captained England in T20s from 2011 to 2014 while Root has been Cook’s deputy since May 2015. Ben Stokes, on the other hand, was the vice-captain during Bangladesh’s tour later in 2016.
The ECB is likely to announce Cook’s successor before the start of West Indies limited-over tour, which begins on March 3.