Cricket: Confident Ben Stokes ready to lead England

Next week, when England hosts West Indies in the first Test match following the novel coronavirus-imposed lockdown, Ben Stokes will be the Brits' captain.

Recently, it was confirmed that England's regular Test captain, Joe Root, will miss the first game since he will witness the birth of his second child.

29-year old Root will leave England's training camp on Wednesday, as his child is expected to be born later this week.

The upcoming England-West Indies series will be held in a bio-secure environment. As a result, Root will need to self-isolate for at least a week after leaving the maternity hospital before he could rejoin the English squad.

The first Test is all set to begin on July 8. According to the BBC, Root will rejoin the English squad on July 13 before the second Test commences on July 16 at Emirates Old Trafford.

England coach Chris Silverwood is confident that Stokes will do a great job on his debut as captain because he can "lead from the front."

Silverwood further added that he is looking forward to seeing Stokes setting an example in terms of "attitude and commitment."

29-year old Stokes has been enjoying a stellar 12-month period since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which he helped England lift for the first time. He played a splendid innings on the day of the final. Following that, he starred in England's famous one-wicket Ashes victory by playing one of the all-time great Test innings at Headingley.

Speaking about the captaincy opportunity, Stokes said, "If I am in charge that's not going to change the way that I go about things. In terms of how I want to influence the game, I try to have a positive effect with the ball or bat in my hand. No matter what I do in terms of choosing what to do in a situation, it will always be the positive route. Getting the opportunity to captain England is a huge honour - even if it's only the once you can still say 'yeah, I've captained England'."

Stokes was elected vice-captain back in 2017 when Root took over as captain. However, he was soon stripped of the role due to an incident outside a Bristol nightclub later that year. That incident led to him being charged with affray, although he was later acquitted.

He was reinstated in 2019, and will now become the 81st man to lead England in a Test match. In the process, Stokes will also become the first all-rounder to do so since Andrew Flintoff.