“Naturally, I am aware that my name has been touted as a possible successor to Joe [Root] as England captain… It’s not something I’ve thought about though,” Broad wrote in his Mail On Sunday column.
Stuart Broad insists his only aim is to return to the England Trial squad rather than the captaincy
Stuart Broad has distanced himself from the prospect of replacing Joe Root as England Test captain and instead appeared to back Ben Stokes for the job.
The fast pitcher was, along with James Anderson, controversially left out of the squad for the recent tour to the West Indies which ended in a 1-0 series loss and proved to be the last of Root’s five years as skipper.
Broad, who has captained England in both T20 and one-day international cricket, is one of the names discussed as a possible successor to Root following his resignation on Friday. However, writing in your mail on sunday column, the 35-year-old insisted his only goal was to return to the England squad and mentioned Stokes instead.
“Naturally I am aware that my name has been touted as a possible successor to Joe as England captain and I assume that is because I am an experienced centrally contracted player who has been in the international game for a long time,” Broad wrote. .
“However, it’s not something I’ve thought about because, firstly, I’m not currently in possession of a shirt within the England test squad and my focus is to change that by taking wickets for Nottinghamshire in the coming weeks.
“In fact, I’d say we’re in a pretty unique position when it comes to selection for the trial squad at the moment, as there are only two players whose names you could write in pen on the scorecard.
“One of them is Joe Root, the other is Ben Stokes, and one of them will not be captaining the first test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2 because he has just relinquished the job.
Broad, yet to feature for Nottinghamshire in this year’s County Championship, has played 152 Test matches for England since making his debut in 2007, taking 537 wickets at an average of 27.80.
His former England team-mate Nick Compton was one of those backing him to succeed Root, at least in the short term if the all-rounder Stokes doesn’t want to take over the captaincy after making his international comeback in last winter’s Ashes series. .
“Any talk about players who haven’t earned their stripes on the team, I don’t think it’s helpful,” Compton said. sky sports. “The guy I introduced is Stuart Broad, I think he is the right man at this difficult stage.
“He’s got the experience and that winning mentality. He’s maybe in the twilight of his career; he’s seen a lot and been through a lot and in the last year or so. We’ve seen a guy who has upped his own game, along with Jimmy Anderson.
“He is the kind of person who could meet the new manager and set a marker for how this England team needs to move forward. He potentially won’t be there for a long period of time, but I think he is the right man.” .
“The one thing you can say about Stuart Broad is that when you need him to, he steps up. There’s no question about it.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain backed Broad to lead England, who host New Zealand, India and South Africa in test matches this summer, also at short notice.
However, he believes Stokes, 30, should be the man seen as Root’s long-term successor.
“If Stokes is not in the right place then Stuart Broad in the short term has excellent cricket brain, he is a real fighter, a real competitor, and he has something to prove after what has happened in the last few months and we know that Broad it’s like when you have something to prove,” said Hussain sky sports.
“Pat Cummins has led Australia as a bowler brilliantly, so in the short term I can see Broad doing something similar.
“There aren’t that many candidates, the other option is to get off the sideline and follow the Graeme Smith route that South Africa did, get off the sideline and look at county cricket, but for me Stokes and Broad stand out.”
