Who will lead England in Tests after Ben Stokes? Departing captain handpicks his successor

Departing England captain Ben Stokes has handpicked his successor to lead the Test side, and he is none other than Harry Brook. Despite England naming Joe Root as the stand-in captain for the second Test when Stokes and pacer Gus Atkinson were out of the squad and in the middle of independent probes over breaching the ECB’s midnight curfew, Stokes has lent 100 per cent support to Brook to lead this side from here on.

Already leading England’s white-ball teams, Brook was overlooked on disciplinary grounds for his involvement in a similar instance at a Wellington nightclub late last year.

However, per the latest report, the ECB is unwilling to burden Brook with captaincy in all three formats. But if he is chosen to succeed Stokes in the red-ball format, he must relinquish captaincy of either the T20Is or the ODIs, with Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran leading the race to replace him.

"There's a reason why he was asked to be vice-captain of this team," Stokes said of Brook. "I know that with all the controversy over the last couple of weeks, there were some decisions that were made [Root leading the team], but those were decisions that I wasn't part of making.

"You're asked to be vice-captain of the team for a certain reason. I was vice captain under Joe for a long time, and it's a natural progression. If the captain's not there or unavailable, then he had to do that. So, there's absolutely no reason why Harry shouldn't [do it],” he continued.

Stokes praises Brook amid captaincy transition

Despite Michael Vaughan’s blunt take on Brook’s dismissal in England’s second innings, which led to their collapse and eventually the loss, Stokes praised the Yorkshire batter for his ability to do wonders.

"He's someone who's obviously an incredible player, one of the more senior players in this group, but we all know he's a phenomenally talented individual when it comes to his skills as a batter. And if you love a bit more responsibility on the shoulders with this team, we don't know if that's going to show any more improvement in the skills that he's already got.

"Only time will tell, but you don't ask someone to be vice-captain if you don't think that they've got the skills and the ability to be able to captain the team when they need to. So, if I was to be asked who I think should do it, I'm throwing my 100% support behind Harry Brook,” Stokes added.

Stokes departs!

Meanwhile, Stokes called time on his 15-year international career midway through the third and final Test against New Zealand, which England lost by 160 runs and conceded the series 1-2. Late on day four, ECB confirmed Stokes’ decision to relinquish Test captaincy and retire from cricket for England.

Emotional scenes, send-offs, and also guards of honour followed, as Stokes walked out to bat as an opener in his final Test innings, scoring 30 before finding a fielder at mid-wicket.

On the other hand, Brook’s next assignment is a five-match T20I series against India, followed by three ODIs.

England’s next Test match is against Pakistan, starting August 19 in Nottingham.