Ben Stokes has been named the captain. He has said that he will consider very hard as to who he wants to be his vice-captain. There are quite a few contenders. Who is likely to be England’s vice-captain? Let me analyse. Who are the contenders? Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Rory Burns & Johnny Bairstow.
Johnny Bairstow
With a couple of centuries in his last 2 series, Johnny Bairstow is more or less certain about his position in the team. The lack of performance from most of the English top-order over the last year has catapulted Bairstow into the leadership position who would otherwise find himself out of the playing eleven more often. There is no doubt that he has rich experience and had been a mainstay until Jos Buttler took over the keeping duties. Apart from Root & Stokes, it is Bairstow who is likely to be among the first choice players atleast in the immediate future. The only negative will be that with Buttler unlikely to ever play test cricket again and the failure of Foakes in the West Indies, Bairstow may go back to keeping the wickets. In that case, the ECB might find vice captaincy somewhat of a burden on Bairstow. However, for me, Bairstow remains the front runner.
Rory Burns
He was a disaster in Australia and found himself out of the squad for West Indies. However, he is likely to make a comeback for the English season because his replacements weren’t that good either. They were unable to score runs against not so great bowlers and as such did not make use of the opportunity. However, coming back from a catastrophic tour of Australia, he must be extremely low in confidence. With a series against New Zealand who are good at exploiting the English conditions and being an opening bat and under tremendous pressure, will the ECB want Burns to assume the vice-captaincy?
James Anderson
Anderson is 40 years old with loads of experience. He has been a champion bowler for England. Being the vice-captain will be a nice icing on the cake. He was dropped for the recent West Indies series and suddenly, England wants to rebuild for the future. They have begun to think of Anderson and Broad as bowlers for English conditions. In such a scenario, Anderson will not be able to travel abroad. Will ECB want 2 vice-captains? One for England and the other for the rest of the world? It is highly unlikely.
Stuart Broad
Broad is in the same boat as Anderson. He too was dropped for the West Indies and off late, has been vocal about his teammates in the press. He would have been a good captain but for some reason, English cricket never utilised his services as the captain. Age and the fact that he is also seen as England only bowler is not in his favour.
Rank outsider
Apart from the above, there is one other cricketer who is likely to be considered. It is none other than, Jos Buttler. After Australia, his test career was as good as over but with a new captain and Foakes’s failure in West Indies, his career must just be resurrected. He will most probably take over the captaincy of the limited overs team from Eoin Morgan in the near future. Ofcourse, he is England’s mainstay in the white ball format. ECB and Stokes will hope that if recalled, Buttler will finally be able to fulfil his talent.
Conclusion to who is likely to be England’s vice-captain?
With Bairstow’s experience, he is most likely to assume the mantle of vice captain. England will also get a chance to test his captaincy credentials whenever Stokes takes a break.