Ben Stokes could lead England in the first Test in absence of Joe Root.
The reference is made to basketball great Jordan and his Chicago Bulls team-mate Pippen, who were the subject of a recent popular Netflix docu-series ‘The Last Dance’.
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Root has been a doubtful starter for the game set to mark international cricket's return post the COVID-19 hiatus in July, as he will be required to undergo seven days of self-isolation after attending the birth of his second child.
The first Test in Southampton will be played from July 8, around when Root's wife is expected to deliver their second child.
"There is a chance our skipper Joe Root may miss a Test this summer because he and his wife are expecting their second child. That would mean me as vice-captain having to step up," Stokes wrote in a column for ‘Daily Mirror’.
"I’m the Scottie Pippen to Joe’s Michael Jordan. It is his team," he added.
Stokes was last year re-appointed England's vice-captain after being removed from the position in the aftermath of the 2017 Bristol nightclub incident. Root has already backed Stokes to do a "fantastic" job as captain.
Stokes said he has decided he'll go about the business in his own way.
"What would be the point of asking me to do the job if not for this kind of situation?" he asked. "I understand where Joe is taking the team and how he wants to lead it. So although I’ll make my own calls on the field and do the job as I see it as the game evolves, everything else will very much be the same as when Joe is there."
The series will be played in a bio-secure bubble and in adherence with the highest safety protocols laid down by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"I’m glad there is a Test series to get ready for," wrote Stokes. "Even though I’ve been training hard physically and kept in good shape, lockdown hasn’t been plain sailing. Throughout this full 13 weeks, I’ve gone through lots of emotions – some good, some not so good."
“My motivation has gone up and down and there have been times when it has been really hard to even think about playing. I’ve had periods where I’ve gone for days without doing a thing because I’ve thought, ‘What’s the point?’"
The England team became the first international side to resume training last month, when the ECB announced a 55-man training squad to go through drills at various grounds. Stokes informed that he initially found it an issue facing Mark Wood at decent pace again in the nets but is looking forward to reattaining peak fitness near the first Test.
"I know that cricket is nearly there and I cannot wait to get back out there and have the first – possibly socially distanced – huddle on the field when it is just the 11 of you going into the game together,” he wrote.
"Getting properly Test match-ready is going to take a bit of time and that is what our camp at the Ageas Bowl will be for."
"But I don’t want to be good to go when I rock up there. I want to have a few things still to work on to get up to full speed. I have learnt from experience that the time to peak is a day or two before a Test match, not three weeks out," Stokes concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)