TV personality and cricket fan Piers Morgan has hailed the news that Ben Stokes has been named England 's new Test captain, stating he "can't think of a finer choice" than the star all-rounder.
Stokes has replaced close friend Joe Root in the role after he stood down earlier this month following a 1-0 series defeat to the West Indies. And after holding face to face talks with new Managing Director of England Men's Cricket Rob Key over the job, Stokes has been unveiled as England's new Test skipper.
And Morgan has offered Stokes his congratulations, backing him to help England "bring those Ashes home". Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "Congrats to @benstokes38 on becoming England's new cricket captain.
"Can't think of a finer choice - magnificent player, great guy, loved & respected by his teammates, and feared by opponents all over the world. Good luck Ben & when the time comes, bring those Ashes home!"
After being officially announced as the new captain, Stokes said: "I am honoured to be given the chance to lead the England Test team. This is a real privilege, and I'm excited about getting started this summer.
"I want to thank Joe for everything he has done for English Cricket and for always being a great ambassador for the sport all across the world. He has been a massive part of my development as a leader in the dressing room, and he will continue to be a key ally for me in this role."
Key, meanwhile, told Sky Sports that Stokes was the "obvious choice" to replace Root, saying: "I just think the time is right for him. He's been a leader in that dressing room for a long, long time. He's been the one that people turned to a lot of the time.
"He's a strong leader, he's got a good cricketing brain. Everything he's done has got him to this point. He's got a hell of a lot of empathy as well. For one of the great players, he cares about the people around him.
"He understands when people struggle, he understands when people might not be feeling great. All of those traits, as well as an outstanding cricket brain, make him the obvious choice."
Key also said he is considering "lost of exciting options" to replace Chris Silverwood, with England advertising for separate red and white ball coaches. "We just want the very best people," Key said.
"We'll do that and then we'll build the structure around it. There are people who have applied from the job and, from what I've seen, there are lots of exciting options.
"I'm doing my digging on people now and I'm going around looking. There's a lot of people I know in English cricket and world cricket. My job at the moment is just to try and work out a little bit about the ones I don't know so much about, then see who I think is suitable to do that role."
