With No Designated Vice-Captain In Team, Joe Root Likely To Lead England In 3rd Test vs NZ If Ill Ben Stokes Misses Out – Reports

Joe Root could be once again seen leading the England National Cricket Team in Test cricket if newly appointed captain Ben Stokes misses out on the fixture against New Zealand National Cricket Team.

The 3rd and last Test match of the three-match Test series between England and New Zealand will be played from June 23 at the Headingley, Leeds. England have already sealed the series with dominant victories in the first two games against the Kiwis.

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Meanwhile, England started their preparations for the third Test without Ben Stokes on Tuesday as their captain was ill.

Stokes fell ill over the weekend while back in Cockermouth and he has not yet joined the England red-ball team. However, the star all-rounder has not contracted Covid-19 as an ECB spokesperson confirmed that Stokes had returned a negative result.

Joe Root To Lead England In The Absence Of Ben Stokes – Reports

England are optimistic about Stokes being fully fit to join the squad in the next 24 hours and take part in the final Test against New Zealand. However, if Stokes is not fully healthy to compete there could be selection dilemmas for newly appointed head coach Brendon McCullum.

Currently, there is no designated Test vice-captain in the England team. In the absence of Stokes, there is a huge possibility of Joe Root, who stepped down as Test captain after the West Indies series, once again leading the side, as per a report in ESPNcricinfo.

Notably, Joe Root had stepped down from captaincy after an awful run of the England Test team under his leadership and Stokes was appointed as the new skipper.

Meanwhile, there is no like-to-like replacement for Stokes in the England Test team as they have no all-rounder in the 14-man squad, who could bat at No.6 and is capable of being a frontline pace bowler.

England will have to make a big decision on Stokes’ replacement if he is unavailable to play and they might replace him with Somerset’s Craig Overton or Harry Brook can walk into the XI as a pure batter.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: Ravichandran Ashwin To Join The Squad Soon: Reports

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