Ben takes the wheel
BATTLE MUST CONTINUE WARNS LORD PATEL NORRIS PLEDGE
BEN STOKES has officially been named England captain for the first Test against the West Indies with Joe Root leaving the camp.
Once the three-day intrasquad warm-up match starts today, Root will leave the Ageas Bowl to be with his wife Carrie for the birth of their second child.
Root (above, with Stokes) must then self-isolate for a week while the Test begins before rejoining his team in Manchester on July 13 in time for the second match.
It means vice-captain Stokes steps up for the first time since he captained the Durham academy in 2008, with Jos Buttler filling the role as his deputy.
Stokes said: “It’s a huge honour and something I’m really looking forward to. But I know I’m only stepping in for the one game because of Joe’s personal situation.”
Despite his captaincy inexperience and the odd bump in the road during his career, Stokes is the obvious choice to take the lead for a one-off game and head coach Chris Silverwood has every confidence in him.
“He is a talisman, isn’t he? He leads from the front anyway,” said Silverwood. “He will do a great job.” TEAM STOKES: Sibley, Jennings, Crawley, Bairstow, Stokes (c), Foakes, Ali, Gregory, Overton, Leach, Stone, Anderson, Mahmood. TEAM BUTTLER: Burns, Bracey, Denly, Lawrence, Pope, Buttler (c), S Curran, Woakes, Bess, Wood, Archer, Broad, Parkinson, Robinson.
CRICKET has “a long way to go” to be to where it needs to be on race and diversity but is moving in the right direction.
That is the verdict of Lord Patel of Bradford, the only non-white member of the England and Wales Cricket Board and who is stepping down in August.
When he leaves his post he can look back on a five-anda-half-year stint in which he made a real difference and real progress in several areas, not least around opportunities for BAME communities.
He has spearheaded reform that now see women make up 30 per cent of a fully independent board, was a part of the media rights process, helped get women’s cricket into the Commonwealth Games and was the catalyst behind the South Asian Action Plan.
But with a deep love of West Indian cricket forged during years in which he experienced racism, Lord Patel has strong words on the current situation for black people in the sport.
“The numbers are appalling,” he said of there being only nine British-born black cricketers in the county game.
“There are lots of reasons for it, one of which was about the closure of the Haringey cricket college, where lots of players came through and was a catalyst with great role models. You have people who start something and then build on it, but unfortunately we took advantage and then just let it die away.
“This is the group of people I grew up with as my heroes, the West Indian cricketers who came to this country and who gave kids like me hope, and said you could be important.”
With a new chairman in Ian Watmore (top) and the existing chief executive Tom Harrison (above) steering matters, Lord Patel has laid down the challenge for them to keep driving for greater diversity - and they are listening. He believes that far from being a lost cause, there is still plenty of talent to be found in a community that once lived and breathed cricket.
“There is still a long way to go without a shadow of a doubt,” he added. “But I don’t think it’s gone from the black community, I genuinely don’t, it just needs that concerted effort and to use this as a real turning point.
“I want the chair and the chief executive to lead this. It is not just about the person of colour in a boardroom to be responsible for everything to do with inclusion and diversity.
“I’ve loved every minute of my time at the ECB and I love the game which I believe has the ability to bring people together like no other.”