Michael Atherton highlights ‘problem’ with ‘obvious candidate’ for England white-ball captaincy

Michael Atherton says Harry Brook’s status as a multi-format player could be deemed a ‘problem’ as England mull over who should replace Jos Buttler as white-ball captain.

Buttler announced that he would be stepping down as ODI and T20 skipper after England were eliminated from this year’s ICC Champions Trophy at the earliest possible opportunity with back-to-back defeats to Australia and Afghanistan.

A third straight loss at the hands of South Africa piled yet more misery on England’s already anguished players and the work now begins on rebuilding a squad capable of challenging for major tournaments once again.

England’s wretched Champions Trophy campaign followed disappointing showings at both the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup under Buttler’s captaincy – and the side’s latest defeat was their tenth in 11 white-ball matches since the turn of the year.

‘I’m going to stand down as England captain,’ Buttler said in a statement following the eight-run loss to Afghanistan.

‘It’s the right decision for me, it’s the right decision for the team and hopefully somebody else can come in and work closely alongside Baz [Brendon McCullum] to take the team back to where it needs to be.’

Pressed on the exact reasons behind the decision, Buttler added: ‘It was quite clear that this tournament was going to be important results-wise for my captaincy.

‘Obviously two losses and being out of the tournament, with a bit of a hangover of some tournaments before, I’ve reached the end of the road for me and my captaincy.

‘Which is a shame, I’m sad about that and obviously with Brendon coming in only recently I was really excited to be working closely alongside him and hope for a very quick turnaround and take the team forward.

‘It’s not quite worked out that way so it feels like it’s the right time for me and also for the team to have a change.

The overriding emotions are sadness and disappointment. I’m sure in time that will pass and I can get back to really enjoying my cricket and I’ll be able to reflect on what an immense honour it is to captain your country.’

England vice-captain Brook is the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Buttler having skippered the side in their ODI series with Australia back in September.

Nasser Hussain feels Brook is the ‘obvious candidate’ to take over the reins but fears the added responsibility may be too much to a player who is also a linchpin of the Test team.

‘Harry Brook is the obvious candidate to take over. He did it at the end of the summer against Australia,’ the ex-England captain told Sky Sports.

‘He’s the obvious one with the amount of important cricket coming up for England.

‘Do you want to put that pressure on a young man who’s got an India series at home, an Ashes away and then a World Cup T20 in India and Sri Lanka? Or do you go to a stop-gap, James Vince, Sam Billings, Lewis Gregory, seasoned, domestic, franchise captains to just do it for a while?

‘I think personally England don’t look back, they look forward. If they think Brook is the next captain, they go to him as soon as possible so he can start learning about being captain.

‘But obviously the caveat is then there will be a lot on his plate.’

Atherton agrees with Hussain that Brook is the standout contender to replace Buttler as England’s white-ball skipper.

However, Atherton also has concerns about Brook’s workload, which he believes ‘makes it tricky’ for England’s selectors.

‘They have two ways to go. They either go with somebody who’s in the side now, certain of his place, like Harry Brook who is the vice-captain, has done it before at the end of the season, and did it very well against Australia,’ Atherton said.

‘The problem with Brook is that he’s a multi-format player. He plays Test cricket, T20s, ODIs. England’s schedule, although it’s easing a little bit with fewer Test matches this year, I think that makes it tricky.’

Atherton added: ‘The other route they could go is to go for somebody slightly outside of the multi-format approach, like Sam Billings, James Vince or Sam Curran. I’m not going to give you a name because I really don’t know.

‘It’s really the direction. At the moment, what’s happening is that they’re bringing the red-ball and white-ball teams closer together.

‘I actually think with the scheduling they need to be pushing them further apart.

‘You’re going to have a core of players who are across formats – Brook being one, Joe Root – these outstanding players who are good in all formats but I also think given the schedule, you need to have a distinct separation between red-ball and white-ball teams as well.’

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