England’s recent Test struggles have left a question mark over Joe Root’s future as captain.

England have won just one of their last 17 Tests, with the controversial decision to drop James Anderson and Stuart Broad for their tour of the Caribbean not leading to an immediate turnaround. West Indies won the series 1-0, winning the third Test in Grenada by 10 wickets after bowling England out for 204 and 120. The ECB have sacked Chris Silverwood from his role as head coach, and Ashley Giles from his role as managing director of England men’s cricket. Michael Vaughan recently has suggested that Root could be next to go.

However, a lack of realistic successors acts as a barrier to Root’s potential removal. There are only a handful of players, other than Root, guaranteed to play the first Test of the English summer, and while there have been movements gathering behind Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad to take over, there have also been several shouts from respected voices in the media for some truly rogue shouts. Things are so bad that anything seems possible.

Eoin Morgan

Writing in The Guardian, Tim de Lisle argues Morgan’s case: “A captain who knows what he is doing and has already made one England team a lot better: Eoin Morgan. You could make room for him by sacrificing Ben Foakes and handing the gloves back to Jonny Bairstow, which would be tough on Foakes but fine for the team. Morgan’s presence, his calm hand on the tiller, would make a huge difference. For the first time since Strauss himself stepped down in 2012, England would have a captain with some authority.”

Morgan has established himself as England’s greatest-ever white-ball captain, but last played a Test in 2012. His last first-class appearance came in 2019, before England’s Cricket World Cup win that summer. In 16 Tests before his axing, he managed 700 runs at an average of 30.43, with two hundreds.

Sam Billings

In the Daily Mail, Paul Newman brings up the name of a man who made his Test debut at the end of England’s ill-fated Ashes campaign: “My choice as captain would be Sam Billings, a man with leadership experience at Kent, a keeper-batter good enough to make his Test debut in the last Ashes game at Hobart and a strong, infectious personality that a new England team could get behind. He could also come in without weakening the team because Ben Foakes has been one of the biggest disappointments in this series both with gloves and bat.”

Billings has led Kent in 23 matches, winning 11 of those games, and has turned out in a total of 75 first-class games. Overall, he has had little exposure in the format since making his debut in 2011. He has played only one Test for the national team and is not a certain starter either.

Will Rhodes, Tom Abell, James Vince

James Buttler, the host of The Cricket Badger Podcast, is of the view that England should start afresh and recommends giving the role to one of three current county captains outside of the England set-up: Will Rhodes, Tom Abell, or James Vince.

“Give them their team,” he tweeted. “Accept it won’t be easy. And back them to grow and build their own identity. Patience required whoever it is.”

I've narrowed it down in my head to three potential skippers, should Root leave the job.

🏏 Will Rhodes
🏏 Tom Abell
🏏 James Vince

Start afresh. Give them their team. Accept it won't be easy. And back them to grow and build their own identity. Patience required whoever it is.

— Cricket Badger Podcast 🏏🦡🇺🇦 (@cricket_badger) March 27, 2022

Rhodes and Abell are both uncapped in any format, but are rated as two of county cricket’s standout skippers. Rhodes averages 35.42 in first-class cricket and led Warwickshire to the County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy titles in 2021, in his first year in charge of the side. He has never made 1,000 runs in a first-class season, and only once, in 2018, has he made more than one hundred in a single campaign.

Abell, 28 years old, averages 32.61 having played 94 first-class games, and has led Somerset with distinction after a rocky start to his time at the club. He dropped himself after a poor run of form in his first season in charge, but has gone on to make Somerset one of the most consistent sides in the country, albeit without winning the County Championship.

England’s last debutant-captain was Tony Lewis in 1972. That went OK, with the Welshman hitting 70* to seal a six-wicket win in India.

Vince is a cause celebre for some England fans, and a cause of frustration for some others, with a perceived tendency to play loose shots after getting set. The Hampshire captain played the last of his 13 Tests in 2018, with a Test average of 24.90 and no hundreds.

Moeen Ali

CricViz analyst Ben Jones touts the option of a former cricketer who is no longer in the fray: Moeen Ali. Moeen retired from Test cricket at the end of last summer, but is the most experienced Test cricketer on this list and has captaincy experience for England and Worcestershire.

*studio laughing*

"seriously though Moeen Ali should be England captain for the first Test of the summer and I'm not being an idiot"

— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) March 27, 2022