Former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie believes Joe Root is ready to captain England.
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It’s been a widely held belief that Root is next in line to take over from the under-fire Alastair Cook, whose recent performances have seen him dropped completely from the one-day side.
Despite some believing that the 24-year-old is too inexperienced for the captaincy role, the Yorkshire boss says Root would be ready if handed the reins tomorrow.
However, he says Root may have to wait a while yet, with the County championship-winning coach saying he expected Cook to hold onto the captaincy for the time being.
“Joe Root is ready now. He may not get the opportunity for a while because I think Alastair Cook will do his thing for some time. But I’ve never understood why some people say Rooty needs to play more, needs more experience,” Gillespie told The Guardian.
The 39-year-old used the examples of Graeme Smith and Michael Vaughan to back-up Root’s case.
“Graeme Smith captained South Africa after eight Tests and it didn’t do him a lot of harm. Rooty has played 22 Tests. Plus Michael Vaughan had played just 31 when he took the job,” he said.
“I wouldn’t look into that too much, he’s been around a bit now. I don’t think it would be the burden people think it would be. If he gets the chance I think he will embrace it and do a good job.”
England will soon depart for its three-Test tour of the West Indies, the first of which begins on April 14 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua & Barbuda.
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