The obvious pick for England's next cricket captain is fraught with danger

KARACHI — When it comes to choosing Jos Buttler‘s successor as England white-ball captain there is only one option – Harry Brook.

The 26-year-old was appointed Buttler’s deputy at the start of Brendon McCullum’s tenure as all-format coach last month.

He now seems certain to be elevated to the captaincy if and when Buttler steps down following England’s humiliating early exit from the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

After a third successive failure at a major tournament following the 2023 Cricket World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup, Buttler has run out of road. Even he admitted he might be part of the problem following the defeat by Afghanistan that sealed England’s fate.

The team moved on to Karachi on Thursday for their final group match, a dead rubber against South Africa on Saturday. It is also time for Buttler to move on.

For McCullum and Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, asking Brook to succeed Buttler would be the natural choice given he is guaranteed his place in both the one-day and T20 teams.

Few others can say that, including other potential leadership contenders like Phil Salt, yet to convince in international 50-over cricket, and Sam Curran, who is not even being selected at the moment.

Brook’s current form is awful – averaging 15.60 in ODIs and 18.20 in T20s since McCullum took over at the start of the year.

Yet the mantra about form being temporary and class permanent very much applies to a player who, at his best, is one of the most exciting and explosive batters in the world.

The issue England have is ensuring the added responsibility does not get too much for him. Appointing him captain in a year with so much important Test cricket, still comfortably his best format, is not ideal. An able deputy will need to be found so that Brook can be rested for those white-ball series that clash with Tests.

Two come to mind in the immediate future – the tour of New Zealand in October and November right before the Ashes and the tour of Sri Lanka straight after it in January 2025.

When weighing up whether to offer the captaincy to Brook, England must be realistic about the demands they place on him.

There’s no doubt if he takes on the job he will have to be an ever-present this summer, with home white-ball series against the West Indies and South Africa. There’s also an interesting three-match one-day tour of Ireland in September.

After he has got his feet under the table though, he must be allowed to skip series so his workload can be managed.

That unwanted and, from a cricketing perspective, pointless sojourn to New Zealand right before the upcoming Ashes series is the first he should shoulder arms too.

If that happens, who could stand in when Brook is being rested?

Candidates for the vice-captain role will surely have to come from outside the Test squad, ruling out the likes of Ben Duckett, and be guaranteed their place in both the T20 and one-day teams.

Salt is the obvious choice but as mentioned earlier, he has not convinced yet in international 50-over cricket. Yet maybe he would be emboldened by the responsibility if he got the gig?

The danger is that all this might affect Brook’s Test form in a year when the home series against India and tour of Australia are the priorities.

Or might he, too, rise to the occasion? Before the advent of split captaincy this wasn’t an issue. Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss still managed to win Ashes series when they were captains across formats.

So there’s no reason why Brook can’t cope with the demands, especially as he can learn from the best in Ben Stokes when he falls back into the ranks in Test cricket.

There is also a ready-made mentor in the one-day team for him to turn to in the form of fellow Yorkshireman Joe Root if he needs any more help, guidance or advice.

Root has been there and done it in terms of captaincy, guiding the Test team through a pandemic during a five-year spell leading the team.

He might even be a viable candidate for the one-day job until the end of the 2027 World Cup if England decided on separate ODI and T20 captains, with perhaps Salt the best shout for a sole T20 role?

It’s an idea, but it’s not likely that McCullum would sign off a three-way leadership split of across formats. It feels too messy.

So we come back to where we started – Brook. It’s not guaranteed to work but whenever Buttler departs, he is the obvious and overwhelming choice to succeed him.