#Joe Root is set to miss England’s first Test next week against the West Indies.
#The 29-year-old has not missed a Test since being made skipper back in 2017.
#His absence will mean Ben Stokes is set to captain England for the first time.
Ben Stokes is preparing to captain England for the first time after the team management resigned themselves to being without Joe Root for next week’s first Test against West Indies.
Root’s wife, Carrie, is due to give birth to their second child, and has been booked in for a C-section in Sheffield over the next few days. But with Covid-19 protocols dictating that Root would have to self-isolate for a week even after leaving hospital, his chances of walking out at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl on July 8 are remote.
His absence will end an unbroken sequence of 77 Tests since he returned to the team in 2014 following his dropping at Sydney in January that year. Only Alastair Cook, who played a world-record 159 in a row, has appeared in more consecutive Tests for England.
That means Stokes, less than two years after he was acquitted on charges of affray at Bristol Crown Court, will finally lead his country, despite never having captained any team more prominent than the Durham academy in 2008.
And he will do so with the endorsement of England’s senior players.
‘Ben will be absolutely fine,’ said fast bowler Stuart Broad.
Source: Daily Mail.
