Ben Stokes throws weight behind Harry Brook to become England Test captain

Brook served as Stokes' deputy for the last six months but was overlooked to lead the team for the second Test against New Zealand after Stokes' was suspended.

Joe Root took the captaincy on an interim role before Stokes returned for the final Test and then subsequently announced his retirement from international cricket.

Brook is already England's captain in both white-ball formats and it is thought that ECB is reluctant to appoint one man to lead all three sides.

"There's a reason why he was asked to be vice-captain of this team," Stokes said of Brook. "I know that with all the controversy over the last couple of weeks, there were some decisions that were made (Root leading the team), but those were decisions that I wasn't part of making.

"You're asked to be vice captain of the team for a certain reason. I was vice captain under Joe for a long time and it's a natural progression. If the captain's not there or unavailable, then he had to do that. So there's absolutely no reason why Harry shouldn't (do it).

"He's someone who's obviously an incredible player, one of the more senior players in this group, but we all know he's a phenomenally talented individual when it comes to his skills as a batter.

"And if you love a bit more responsibility on the shoulders with this team, we don't know if that's going to show any more improvement in the skills that he's already got.

"Only time will tell, but you don't ask someone to be vice captain if you don't think that they've got the skills and the ability to be able to captain the team when they need to. So if I was to be asked who I think should do it, I'm throwing my 100% support behind Harry Brook."