Bombay Durpun - Brook ready for "great honour" of succeeding Stokes as Test skipper

Brook is set to skipper England in Wednesday's first T20 against India at Chester-le-Street and found himself talking to reporters just a day after Stokes bowed out of international cricket with a thumping 160-run loss to New Zealand in the third Test at Trent Bridge.

Brook, also involved in a defeat that condemned England to a 2-1 series loss to the Black Caps, is now set to be at the helm for eight white-ball matches in just 18 days against India.

But Brook said he would have no qualms about succeeding Stokes, who gave him his "100 percent support" for the role of Test skipper during his final press conference as captain.

"It's not up to me but if I got offered it then I'd be happy to take it," the talented 27-year-old batsman told reporters.

"I don't know yet (if it will happen) but it would be a great honour to do it. It'd be a privilege to captain England in the highest format of our game and the pinnacle.

"Playing Test cricket is the greatest thing I've ever done in my life, and it's a dream, something I've always wanted to do since I could speak," added Brook, who averages an impressive 53 in the format, with 10 hundreds in 38 matches.

Head coach Brendon McCullum, in charge of both red and white-ball teams, indicated Monday that England would take their time over appointing Stokes's successor given it is over a month before their next Test -- against Pakistan at Brook's Headingley home ground.

England's congested fixture schedule, allied to concerns about the detrimental impact on a player's form were he to lead the side in all three formats, has led officials to shy away from making one man the captain in Test, 50-over and T20 cricket

"I think it would be a tough job, but everything's tough in cricket," said Brook. "It’s a hard sport."

The other leading candidate to succeed Stokes is Joe Root, who as England's Test captain from 2017 to 2022 and stepped in when Stokes was deemed unavailable for the second match of the New Zealand series following a nightclub incident subject to a disciplinary investigation.

Brook is the official Test vice-captain but his altercation with a bouncer in Wellington last November -- an incident that led to the imposition of a curfew that Stokes broke -- made England wary of leaving him in charge at the Oval.

"Making Rooty captain that week was definitely the right decision," said Brook.

"He's been a stalwart for English cricket," he added of his Yorkshire team-mate. "The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) needed him that week and he stepped up. My job was to help him as much as possible."

P.Raval--BD