Stuart Broad distances himself from England's Test captaincy role

England senior pacer Stuart Broad has distanced himself from taking the captaincy responsibility of the Test team and has backed his country’s star all-rounder Ben Stokes to take over the job. To note, Ben Stokes has also been named by several veteran players including Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain as the number one candidate to replace Joe Root as skipper of the Test side.

As for Broad, he has the experience of leading his country in both ODIs and T20Is. However, the veteran pacer has now emphasized on the fact that he is focusing on making a comeback to the England team. It is to be noted that Broad along with his bowling partner James Anderson, were controversially left out of the squad for the recent tour to the West Indies. The visitors had to face a Test series defeat by a margin of 1-0 against the home side and that proved to be the last assignment of Root’s five years tenure as skipper.

I am not currently in possession of a shirt within the England Test team: Stuart Broad

“Naturally, I am aware that my name has been touted as a potential successor to Joe as England captain and I guess that is because I am an experienced centrally contracted player who has been around the international game a long time,” Broad wrote in his Mail On Sunday column. The pacer also wrote that he wants to do well for his county side Nottinghamshire and make a comeback in the national squad.

“It is not something I have given any thought to because firstly I am not currently in possession of a shirt within the England Test team and my focus is very much on changing that by taking wickets for Nottinghamshire over the next few weeks,” he added. Talking about Broad’s numbers in Test cricket, the 35-year-old has played 152 matches in which he has scalped a total of 537 wickets at an average of 27.81. He has played in 121 ODIs and 56 T20Is for his country.