Joe Root, who will captain England in the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval, funnily revealed that he had to fish in his garage cupboard to find his old England captain’s blazer for the toss ahead of the game.

England won the first Test at Lord's, and captain Ben Stokes and pacer Gus Atkinson broke the team curfew to celebrate the win at a local pub. During their celebration, Atkinson got into a scuffle with a local rugby player, who threw a punch at him but missed and hit an ECB security officer instead.

The ECB has launched an investigation into the matter and dropped Stokes and Atkinson from the second Test, naming Root as interim captain.

Root found himself sitting in front of the media as England Test captain once more on the eve of England's second Test match against New Zealand, something he believed had very little chance of ever occurring.

"0.1 percent," Root smiled, reflecting on how he had to find his old England blazer after he stepped down as captain four years ago.

"I never thought I would be sitting here talking to you guys as captain again. It was in a cupboard in the garage. It was a bit creased when I got it down, with about 30 old team sheets in the pocket that I had to take out. I had to check if it still fit," he said.  

Pundits' criticism of what many see as an excessively permissive drinking culture within English cricket has been rekindled by the episode. However, Root was quick to acknowledge that mistakes had been made while defending the dressing room's spirit.

"It has been disappointing. There have been a number of occasions now where we've let ourselves down and let each other down. We have to learn from those mistakes and understand that we shouldn't be putting ourselves in those situations.

But I also don't think it's a fair reflection of our dressing room. This is an incredibly professional group that works extremely hard. Everyone puts everything into every training session and every day. We've got to show that to people. We've got to show that this week by putting in a performance out on the field,” Root said as per the Guardian.

Root was naturally restrained when asked about his close friend's mental health, declining to talk about private chats.

"I've had a couple of conversations with him. I've spoken to him a few times over the last week or so. We're close friends, and those conversations should remain private,” he stated.

"It's fair to say that during my five years as captain, there were difficult periods. When it comes to how Ben is feeling and how he is, those are questions for him to answer himself and, when the time comes, I'm sure he will,” Root added.

Root maintained that Stokes' reputation in the locker room is unaffected by the gravity of the accusations and the uncertainty surrounding his future.

"I'm sure he has the respect of everyone in our dressing room. He's been a phenomenal leader for a number of years. We've achieved some great things as a team and won a lot of Test matches. Clearly, he's a talismanic player and a great friend to many of the lads. There's a huge amount of respect for him throughout the group,” Root stated.

England will require all of Root's renowned composure in the days ahead. Faced with a cultural crisis and the absence of their talismanic captain.