Harry Brook the ‘front-runner’ as England Test captain, says Eoin Morgan, as Michael Atherton ponders ‘why the lack of leaders?’ | Cricket News

With England’s first T20I against India abandoned due to rain, attention turned to the uncertainty surrounding the England Test team with Michael Atherton left pondering, ‘why have we got so few potential leaders?’

Stokes’ shock international retirement, announced during the third Test against New Zealand this past week, and England’s subsequent capitulation to a series defeat, have the ECB under pressure to not only find his replacement as Test captain but potentially rip up the entire Bazball era and start afresh.

Head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director of cricket Rob Key could conceivably be moved on, and though Stokes gave his backing to Brook as his ‘natural successor’, and the current white-ball captain said it would be a ‘great honour’, there appears to be a reluctance to let Brook at the reins.

Brook, despite being vice-captain, was overlooked to skipper the side for the second Test against New Zealand in the aftermath of the nightclub incident that saw Stokes, and Gus Atkinson, suspended for the game.

“Why have we got so few potential leaders right now?” Former England captain Atherton pondered on Sky Sports Cricket.

“I heard Brendon the other day say something like, ‘we’ve got lots of options’. I don’t think they have at all. The only potential options for the Test team seem to be [Joe] Root or Brook.

“Is it just a phase at the moment that it’s an unlikely cycle? Or is there a failure to plan ahead? Is there a failure to get enough tough senior players in the team?

“It’s not just about the captain. My former coach Duncan Fletcher used to say you need a critical mass of senior players in any successful team, to drive behaviour, to drive culture and drive performance.

“In England’s Test team at the moment, I don’t see that. There’s an empty shell there.”

Is Brook ‘front-runner’ for the job and can he keep white-ball role?

Atherton also insisted that England musn’t pick a captain to lead the side across all three formats, which could be the case were Brook to be handed the role.

“One thing I’m pretty certain of, in my own mind, is that I would separate the jobs [Test and white-ball] – both coaching and captaincy,” Atherton said. “I don’t think that’s a goer, at all.

“I’ve seen what the Test job has done to Stokes over four years – and this is a guy playing one format. It took a lot out of him.”

England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan believes Brook should be the choice, but would like to see him step aside with the white-ball team were he to take on the Test job.

“I think there’s possibly only one candidate in that changing room, and that’s Brook – unless they go back to Joe Root,” he said.

“Brook is the front-runner for me, and I would look elsewhere for the white-ball captaincy.

“I think there are more options to give the white-ball captaincy within the side… candidates like Phil Salt, Sam Curran, and an outside pick like Will Jacks.”

Morgan: England’s tactics set ablaze everything they’d achieved

Morgan also gave his thoughts on the timing of Stokes’ retirement, which has drawn some criticism – along with the move to have him open the batting later on that fourth evening once England had been set 373 to win.

Stokes cracked 30 off 20 balls at the top of the order, but England lost four wickets in 15 chaotic overs – Brook being one of them, caught scooping to deep fine line for a nine-ball 21 – before going on to lose by 160 runs shortly after lunch on the final day.

“The decision, I was a little bit shocked by. I didn’t really see it coming,” Morgan said.

“Having played with Ben for a long time, I know he would have envisaged finishing in a blaze of glory, like the majority of his career.

“In his head, he would have believed he could go out there, open the batting and chase down whatever – or make a huge dent in the score – but I felt there was no need to make that call.

“The game was set up perfectly for Ben to come in the next day and, with however many to chase, dominate the run-chase.

“I felt it was a little bit forced and it left a sour taste in people’s mouths. It set ablaze everything they’d achieved in the three or four years leading up to that period.

“In such a short space of time, to almost undermine what had been going on with some of the shots that were made by some high-quality batters was really disappointing to watch.

“I think to a certain extent it has [tarnished their legacy]. And I think Ben himself will be gutted about that, as he’ll not be around to help pick things up and move things forward.”

Atherton added: “I thought, in retrospect, that was a really bad way for Ben Stokes to go out at Trent Bridge.

“Of course there was that one magical moment with Stokes’ announcement on the fourth day, where he got the wicket next ball.

“But then the batting was crazy and self-destructive, which meant he bowed out with a loss on the last day. I wasn’t happy to see him go in that way.”

England’s home series against India fixtures

• First T20 (Durham) – Match abandoned – no result.
• Second T20 (Saturday July 4) – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (2.30pm)
• Third T20 (Tuesday July 7) – Trent Bridge, Nottingham (5.30pm)
• Fourth T20 (Thursday July 9) – Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (5.30pm)
• Fifth T20 (Saturday July 11) – Utilita Bowl, Southampton (2.30pm)
• First ODI (Tuesday July 14) – Edgbaston, Birmingham (11am)
• Second ODI (Thursday July 16) – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (1pm)
• Third ODI (Sunday July 19) – Lord’s, London (11am)

Watch India’s white-ball tour of England, from July 1-19, live on Sky Sports. Not got Sky? Stream cricket and more with NOW.