England's stand-in captain for the first Test against West Indies, starting July 8 in Southampton, Ben Stokes, shared a simple piece of advice given to him by regular skipper Joe Root, as he becomes the country's 81st men's captain in Test match cricket at the Ageas Bowl.
Root, who won't be around due to the birth of his second child, has told Stokes to "do it your way" and not feel he needs to change anything in terms of his ways on the field just because he is captaining England.
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"The best message I've received was when I got my photos done yesterday, with the blazer. Rooty just left a message on the hanger which said, 'Do it your way'," Stokes told reporters via a virtual conference.
"Because of Joe's personal situation, we've been letting him deal with that and I haven't been on him too much. But I know he'll be at home watching and his phone will always be available if I need him," he added.
The first big task at the helm for Stokes will be the team selection, especially in the bowling department, with the likes of Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes competing for two available slots in an attack that is set to feature James Anderson, off-spinner Dom Bess and Stokes himself.
"It's not very often that we've been in a situation where we've got six or seven bowlers to choose from," said Stokes, who will be finalising the XI in discussions with coach Chris Silverwood. "It's a real head-scratcher as somebody who's got to choose the side but as a bigger picture it's a great place to be in as a team."
"I feel as if we're in a position now as a test team like we were with the one-day team in 2015 and building for that World Cup. I feel as if we're building towards the Ashes in Australia and also India."
"I've been dreading it the last three days, having to deliver bad news to some lads. It's obviously not a nice thing to have to do, but that comes with being the captain and with being in a leadership role. It's got to be done," Stokes concluded.
(Inputs from Reuters)
