Andrew Strauss wants decision on next England captain before West Indies tour with Joe Root favourite

Strauss addresses a press conference after Alastair Cook's resignation
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James Benge6 February 2017

ECB director Andrew Strauss hopes to have England’s new captain in place before the end of the month after Alastair Cook’s resignation.

Vice-captain Joe Root is the overwhelming favourite to be named the next captain after Cook announced his retirement from the role after four-and-a-half years.

England’s record run scorer took almost eight weeks to come to a decision over his future – he will continue to play on for the Test side – whilst the one day and Twenty20 squads were in action in India, where Cook’s side had been hammered 4-0 before Christmas.

The ODI side will be back in action early next month four a three game tour of the West Indies and Strauss hopes that a new Test skipper will be in place before they fly off.

“We hope to be in a position to name the new Test captain before the team head off on the one-day tour to the West Indies on February 22,” Strauss told Sky Sports.

“That gives the new captain a huge amount of time to get used to the idea, have conversations about off-the-field stuff with the coaches and the support staff - so that when he steps on to the field as England captain for the first time in July, a lot of that stuff has been taken care of already.”

Cook’s departure had not necessarily come as a surprise and his future had been the subject of much speculation after the brutal nature of England’s defeat in England.

However Strauss affirmed that he had not spoken to any players, including Root, about the future captaincy before Cook had made his intentions clear.

“It would have been entirely wrong for me to have spoken to any other players about the England captaincy before Alastair decided to step down," he said.

"Now's the chance for me and the selectors and the England coach [Trevor Bayliss] to have conversations among ourselves and with some of the players within the England environment to get an understanding of who the right person is, what their philosophy is, how they intend to take the team forward so that when we come to announce the new captain we're absolutely clear he's the right man."

Strauss is pleased Cook also took the time available to make the right call.

He added: "I know how draining the England captaincy can be, especially on a long tour away from home like they've just had and especially when you're on the wrong end of results.

"It was pretty clear, pretty quickly that Alastair knew just how much drive and determination and energy was going to be required of the England captain in the next 12 months or so.

"He had some reservations about just how much he had left in the tank as England's longest-serving Test captain ever.

"Over the last 10 days or so, it was clear that his mind was made up.

"He felt that this was the right thing for both him and the team - to step aside and allow someone fresh with new ideas to come in and stamp their mark on English cricket."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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