After a high octane few days for the England cricket team, that saw them win by 115 runs against the visiting New Zealand side, but also lose their skipper Ben Stokes and Pacer Gus Atkinson to a nightclub brawl, the English will now be lead by former Captain Joe Root for the 2nd test against the Kiwis.
Nightclub Incident
Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson are under inquiry currently, after they were found flouting curfew rules in place after the match, and to make matters worse for the two, a Sarcens rugby club player ended up throwing a punch at them after a brawl on Monday. Both Stokes and Atkinson are unhurt. The ECB considers this to be a serious offence, with Stokes captaincy on the line, and perhaps even his career as an international cricketer, some suggest Stokes will voluntarily retire to avoid more controversies. This is not the first instance of Stokes, or any other British cricketer for that matter to be involved in a nightclub incident, Harry Brook was involved in one in Australia during the last Ashes and Stokes himself was infamously arrested in 2017.
The Return of Joe Root
While in normal circumstances, the vice captain, Harry Brook should have been elevated to interim captaincy but given his own misfortune of being involved in an incident not very long ago, it would be poor optics for the ECB. Joe Root has long been the most reliable batsman in the test team and often is known as the ‘most likeable English cricketer’ from the current era. Root’s ‘good guy’ image is necessary considering the situation the ECB is going through.
Root has previously captained the test team from 2017 to 2022, 64 matches with 27 wins, 11 no results and 26 losses, making one of the most successful red ball English captains. Root returns to captaincy after 4 years.
England Squad for the 2nd Test
Joe Root (C), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue.
Also Read – Stokes Captaincy on the line after yet another ‘Nightclub Incident’
