Ben Stokes on Monday insisted he has no ambitions to become England captain as the star all-rounder backs current Joe Root and troubled coach Chris Silverwood under pressure.
Root will become his country’s longest-serving Test captain in the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney on Wednesday, surpassing former Alastair Cook’s 59-match Test captain.
But he is under the gun after overseeing three consecutive heavy defeats against Australia with some pundits including Ricky Ponting and Geoff Boycott worried about his captaincy.
There are few clear viable candidates to replace him with vice-captain Stokes at the top of the pile, other than a move made by former captain Mike Atherton.
But the 30-year-old said he was not interested.
“I never had the ambition to be captain,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
“The captain is much more than setting the field, choosing the team, making decisions in between. A captain is someone you want to go out and play for. Joe Root is someone I’ve always wanted to play for.”
Stokes had once previously led England, a Test defeat by the West Indies in 2020 when Root was on paternity leave.
Atherton is one of those who believe the 31-year-old Root’s time is almost over and Stokes can do it.
“Root has been a fine England captain, and has always carried himself brilliantly and is an incredible ambassador for the game,” he wrote in his column for The Times last week.
“But after five years of work and three cracks in the Ashes, including two terrible campaigns in Australia, it is time to move on to something else.
“Ben Stokes is a viable option, having done an excellent job as a stand-in over the summer,” he added.
However, Stokes said he does not believe Root is ready to leave the role.
“I don’t think so with Joe,” he said. “He has brought this team a long way. He has done some great things.
“Obviously, this series has not been very good, not from a captaincy point of view, but from a team and results point of view.
“It’s completely Joe’s decision,” he said.
Stokes also backed Silverwood, who will miss the Sydney Test after a family member contracted Covid-19. He is in isolation in Melbourne and is expected to be replaced by batting coach Graham Thorpe.
“It’s your job to write whatever hype has been in the media about his future lately, but he knows very well that he has the support of everyone out there and that’s what counts,” Stokes said.
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