Stokes is England’s only viable captaincy option

The failed England skipper Joe Root endured the unfortunate nickname ldquocraptainrdquo at his home county Yorkshire The England hierarchy should have taken more notice of that unedifying sobriquetRootrsquos selfinflicted demise preceded the announcement that former Kent and England player Rob Key was taking over as managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board ECB The two events are linked as the first announcement at least ensured Key wouldnrsquot be making a polarising decision as his initial task However Keyrsquos good fortune doesnrsquot alter the point that the ECB is not good at moving quickly to reverse an untenable decision This is not a strong ECB traitmdashnever has beenEngland going backwardsEngland were going backwards under Root and one of Keyrsquos first jobs will be to improve that ingrained and negative attitudeThe fact that we are discussing Rootrsquos eventual resignation and his possible successor is proof of the ECBrsquos sluggishness in rectifying a poor decision It was obvious early in Rootrsquos reign that the captaincy and he werenrsquot a matchThe choice of a player to be a reasonable England captain is very limited and this is also an indictment of the ECB There should be a few ready replacements available in the first XIBefore the announcement of Keyrsquos appointment there were a number of suggestions about who could take over if Root was deposedStuart Broad is an intelligent wellspoken player but he should not be a captaincy consideration Hersquos now too old and maintains a conservative streak especially when it comes to field placings for his own bowlingJos Buttler is not a Test wicketkeeper he has no obvious place in the first XI Itrsquos hard enough to win Tests against a good team when yoursquore playing level at elevenaside never mind prevailing when yoursquore asked to perform while shorthanded ask Mike BrearleyTherersquos only one viable captaincy option in the best XI and thatrsquos allrounder Ben Stokes If he seriously isnrsquot interested in the job then England are in big troubleTo question Stokesrsquos viability based purely on the inferior captaincy of previous star allrounders is indefensible Stokes has the fire in his belly and the positive approach to be successful however that alone doesnrsquot guarantee successWhoever accepts the appointment his initial job will be to make a poorly performing England side better That is a captainrsquos jobmdashto improve any teamrsquos resultsUnderperforming batsmenThis shouldnrsquot be hard as England have some good underperforming batsmen It is also a trend under Root that England have suffered great misfortune with their genuinely fast bowlers especially Jofra ArcherNonetheless Zak Crawley Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence posses a lot of skill but need encouragement to display it regularly The same applies to offspinner Dom Bess and to have not given an opportunity to the capable legspinner Matt Parkinson is nonsensicalIf Stokes does accept the job he may be the beneficiary of Parkinsonrsquos evolution if he provides a strong voice at the selection table And while hersquos at it he could overcome the fast bowling shortage by encouraging Jamie Overton in his endeavours Therersquos no doubt Jamie has suffered from multiple injuries but his genuine pace even at underage level has been poorly handled on the county circuitEnglish cricket have a distorted affection for correct technique If Stokes is appointed and then can redirect this trait into more positive encouragement of talented players he will have done his country a huge favour If chosen Stokes shouldnrsquot be awarded a vote at the selection tablemdashitrsquos not desirablemdashbut if he presents a good argument that will be sufficientKey faces many demanding tasks ahead and hersquoll need to maintain his ldquoI have a mind of my ownrdquo attitude in the face of ECB ineptitude However his first jobmdashappointing a viable England captain and then supporting him fullymdashwill be a really important task