English team captain Joe Root will have to officially miss out on their first Test match so he could witness the birth of his second child.
Team captain Joe Root has officially been ruled out on the first Test of the West Indies tour of England. This is because of the fact that his wife will give birth to their second child. With that, vice-captain Ben Stokes will captain England on the said match while Jos Butler will temporarily assume the role of vice-captain.
Today (July 1), Root will leave England on their pre-series training camp as he will already go to his wife who is due to give birth within this week. With that, he will not take part in any of the intra-squad matches which will be held for three days, starting tomorrow.
After his wife gives birth, he will then be asked to observe a seven-day isolation period before he will once again be permitted to join the squad. It is expected that Root will already be able to play a part in the second Test which will be held at the Emirates Old Trafford which will take place on July 13.
Stokes, on the other hand, shares his excitement about assuming the captaincy even just once. In an interview, he shared his excitement by saying, ‘Obviously 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"’.
‘So it's a huge honour to think about, and something I'm really looking forward to if the opportunity presents itself, but also at the same time I know I'm only stepping in to take over the reins for the one game because of Joe's personal situation’, he added while explaining that he never really had the ambition of becoming a team captain ever since he started playing.
On July 8, the West Indies tour England will commence. This tour consists of three Test matches which are to be played behind closed doors at the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground. To know about your desired team’s chances of winning, head over to Betwala and check the odds of the game which will be posted soon.
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