Ashes news: Ricky Ponting backs Ben Stokes to take over England captaincy

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes Ben Stokes would be the ideal candidate to take over the England captaincy from Joe Root after a disastrous Ashes series.

A poor showing by England in the series has left question marks over whether Root will remain Test skipper.

And Ponting believes the talismanic all-rounder is not just the best, but the only option as captain.

“I think Stokes would actually grow as a player if he was the captain of that side,” Ponting told cricket.com.au

“The only person that can take over is Ben Stokes. I think with a bit of extra responsibility, he might become an even better player and that might have a good impact on the rest of the team.”

However, there have been times in the past where England’s top all-rounders have struggled with the role. Ian Botham is one famous example; he gave up the captaincy in the middle of the 1981 Ashes, then went on to win the series for England.

Andrew Flintoff is another example of an all-rounder who struggled in the leadership role. He oversaw England’s whitewash in the 2006-07 series and later admitted he hated the captaincy job.

Will Ashes loss be end of Joe Root?

But Ponting pointed out that there’s been a number of successful all-rounder captains in the past too. Furthermore, he added that there’s been plenty of batsmen who struggled with the role as well.

“You’ll find instances right the way through even with top order batters where it hasn’t worked,” said Ponting. “It just sits well with some, and doesn’t with others.

“I don’t know Ben Stokes that well, but if I was trying to change the face of English cricket and trying to give a bit more of a heartbeat and a bit more soul, then I think he’d be the one that I’d be looking at to lead the team.

“Even with what we saw yesterday, to stand up under that much physical pain says a lot about him, and his teammates will thrive off that.

“Anyone that plays underneath him, I’m sure will grow an arm and a leg.”

What’s more, Ponting believes Root carrying on as England skipper will just grind him down in the long run.

“I just think it’s going to grind him down,” said Ponting.

“Even looking back on my career, I played a couple of years longer – and potentially even captained a couple of years longer – than I should have.

“The challenge just gets harder and harder, and it weighs you down.

“Where England cricket are right now, they’re looking at a pretty ordinary last eight or 10 test matches; they might just need a complete reboot with a fresh face in charge.

“I’m not saying that he needs to go or that he has to stand down. But I reckon it will be a conversation in the back in the backrooms of at the ECB.”