England on Thursday confirmed that Andrew Strauss has stepped down from the one-day captaincy, with Alastair Cook appointed as his successor.
While Cook will skipper the ODI outfit, Stuart Broad has been handed England’s Twenty20 reigns after Paul Collingwood relinquished his T20 responsibilities.
The decision to install Cook as one-day captain comes despite the 26-year-old having been excluded from England’s World Cup squad. The opening batsman has in fact made just three one-day appearances in the last two and a half years, leading his country in a 3-0 series success against Bangladesh in 2010.
Cook – who has 26 one-day caps to his name – is excited by his new role, and he was quick to dismiss suggestions that his batting approach is not suited to the limited overs game.
“Andrew Strauss has led the one-day team to continued success over the past two years and I’ll be looking to continue that progress as captain,” he said.
“I’m excited by the challenge of taking our 50-over cricket to new heights and I believe I can play an integral role with the bat as well as captain.
“I’ve worked hard on my limited overs cricket in recent times – I’ve never seen myself as a Test batsman exclusively and I know I have a lot to offer strategically and as a top order batsman in one-day cricket.”
Meanwhile 24-year old Broad will take the England leadership reigns for the first time in the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka on June 25.
“It’s a huge privilege to be named England Twenty20 captain,” said Broad.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing the shortest form of the game and I relish the opportunity to develop my leadership skills as England’s Twenty20 captain.”
“The chance to work closely with Andy Flower is an extremely exciting one and as current World Twenty20 champions I know there is a real responsibility to continue the team’s recent success.”
Strauss explained that his decision to step down as ODI captain was made with the goal of concentrating more on his role in Test cricket.
“I’ve enjoyed my time as England one-day captain immensely and I’m extremely proud of the strides we’ve made in limited overs cricket over the past two years,” said Strauss.
“We still have a long way to go if we’re to achieve our goal of winning ICC global events and I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and ensure someone else takes up that challenge.
“Retiring from one-day cricket will also enable me to focus solely on the Test captaincy and our ongoing development in the Test arena as we also strive to be the top ranked team in world cricket.
“I look forward to working closely with both Alastair and Stuart as we work together to progress England’s development across all forms of the game.”