Root resigned after five years in charge following a 1-0 series loss in the Caribbean, which came hot on the heels of a humiliating 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia. New managing director of England men’s cricket Rob Key told Sky Sports that Stokes was the “obvious choice”. “I just think the time is right for him,” Key said.

Strong leadership quality

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“He’s been a leader in that dressing room for a long, long time. He’s been the one that people turned to a lot of the time. He’s a strong leader, he’s got a good cricketing brain. Everything he’s done has got him to this point.” The former England batsman added: “He’s got a hell of a lot of empathy as well.... All of those traits, as well as an outstanding cricket brain, make him the obvious choice.”

Stokes’s first match as the permanent England skipper will come against New Zealand, the country of his birth, at the start of a three-Test series at Lord’s on June 2. He previously captained the Test side in a four-wicket defeat by the West Indies in Southampton two years ago when Root was on paternity leave—his only first-class match in charge. But he has long been regarded as a leading figure in the England dressing room.

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