Fleming was named England's new Test head coach after Brendon McCullum relinquished the post.
Joe Root has been reappointed as England's Test captain, following the sudden international retirement of Ben Stokes. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) handed the reins back to the 35-year-old batting great, who previously led the red-ball side for five years before stepping down in April 2022.
Alongside Root's return, the ECB appointed former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming as England's new Test head coach after Brendon McCullum relinquished the post last month.
Speaking to the ECB, Root revealed that Fleming’s appointment as coach was a primary motivator for his return to Test leadership.
“If I’m being brutally honest, it (Fleming’s appointment) was a big reason why I wanted to do it," Root said.
“I’m very excited by the way he sees the game, where he sees us sit as a team, and the work that we have to do to get to where we want to get to. All of that got me very excited about taking this role on."
“I’m very much looking forward to working with him. He’s obviously got a wealth of experience and done some amazing things within the game as a player and as a coach, and I’m very much looking forward to the next little while, and us trying to build something pretty special together," he added.
Joe Root led England in 65 Test matches during his first spell, securing 27 victories – the most by a captain for Three Lions. His second tenure will officially begin with the three-Test home series against Pakistan, starting August 19 at Headingley.
“It’s always a huge honour to turn up to the start of a Test series and to get your teeth into what will be a really good contest against a good team in Pakistan," Root said. “I’ll be very much looking forward to it, and getting all the guys in.
“(The Pakistan series) is going to be slightly different. It’s going to be quite tricky. It’s a very short turnaround (from the Hundred, which ends on August 16). So it’s going to be important that we start really well in those two days that we have leading into the game," he remarked.
Since Fleming will not arrive until later in the summer, assistant coach Marcus Trescothick will take interim charge for the impending assignment against Pakistan.