Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, has begun the process of selecting his new Test captain after holding talks with the stand-out candidate, Joe Root, and a number of senior players before a possible announcement next week.
Strauss is understood to have met separately with Root, Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad on Thursday to discuss the vacancy left by Alastair Cook’s decision to stand down on Monday after four and a half years in the role.
Root is poised to step up from his position of Test vice-captain after being appointed to that role in May 2015 as part of a long-term succession plan put in place by Strauss. The 26-year-old’s promotion would put Stokes in line as his possible deputy, with his leadership qualities having received a strong endorsement from the head coach, Trevor Bayliss.
Bayliss, who is back in his native Australia, and the national selector, James Whitaker, are part of the decision-making process along with Strauss and between them they must decide how best to reinvigorate a side that, by Cook’s admission, stagnated in 2016 with eight defeats from their 17 Tests.
Broad, a former captain of the Twenty20 side, represents a second option for the vice-captaincy should they deem him the more suitable replacement in the event of an injury to Root. However, the packed nature of the modern schedule – England play seven Tests in nine weeks this summer – makes the top job unlikely for the 30-year-old fast bowler, who struggled with injuries last year.
As well as the three players known to have been interviewed in person, Strauss is also understood to have contacted Jos Buttler via telephone to canvass his thoughts on the direction of the Test side.
While the Lancashire wicketkeeper is yet to establish himself in the XI, having only returned at the back end of the series in India before Christmas as a specialist batsman, his captaincy of the one-day side in Bangladesh, following Eoin Morgan’s decision to miss the tour on security grounds, has highlighted his future leadership potential.
