Joe Root appointed England's new Test captain

After Alastair Cook stepped down from captaincy following England's 4-0 defeat to India in the Test Series, there were speculations about who would be named as the next captain of the three lions. Joe Root, the vice-captain and the obvious frontrunner for the post was formally appointed captain today. The 26-year-old batsman from Yorkshire has been the side's best batsman ever since his debut, scoring 4594 runs at an average of 52.80 with 11 hundreds. The ECB had interviewed others including Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Ben Stokes but finally settled for the obvious.

He will now succeed Alastair Cook, who led the team from 2012 to 2016. Cook's first and last series as captain were both played in India, and while he began with a historic away series victory, he could never match those heights in his last series as his team succumbed to one loss after another, the last two by an innings after putting up 400 runs on the board.

"It is a huge honour to be given the England Test captaincy. I feel privileged, humbled and very excited. We have a very good group of players and I'm looking forward to leading them out in the summer, building on Alastair's achievements and making the most of our talents in the years ahead. The senior guys in the changing room play a very influential role and whilst there's a natural progression for me it's a huge support to know that they are there to help and advise," Root said.

England have a long break from Test cricket for now and will don the whites next only after the Champions Trophy, when South Africa fly to England for a Test series in July.