00:00There's been a shake-up in England's cricket leadership as Ben Stokes was left out of the England squad
00:06following an incident that took place in a London nightclub.
00:10Although it's believed the England cricketers were not the instigators of any scuffle that might have happened,
00:17questions have been raised once again about the drinking culture within the England squad.
00:24Following several incidents that took place last winter both in New Zealand and Australia
00:31during the Ashes Tour in which England were severely beaten by Australia,
00:38senior figures such as Rob Key released public statements and interviews saying that the culture would be changing.
00:46After their first test match since those statements, more questions have now been raised.
00:53Now Yorkshireman and England's best-ever batter Joe Root will pick up the captain's blazer once again.
01:00Despite being one of the country's best cricketers to ever play the game,
01:04Root's time as captain has not been hugely successful in the past.
01:09Here's what Joe Root has had to say about becoming England captain again, albeit on an interim basis.
01:16From my point of view, whenever something happens like that, you want to make sure that everyone involved is OK.
01:21So, and then a lot of focus over the last couple of days has been making sure we get ready
01:26for this test match
01:27and turning our focus as a group on putting in a really strong performance.
01:31And you look at the side we've got out, it's a very exciting team.
01:34You know, there's a lot of youth, a lot of guys at the start of their journey and whenever someone
01:38comes into test cricket,
01:39that brings a lot of energy to the squad.
01:41So, nice position to be in 1-0 up in the series and a great opportunity ahead this week to
01:47hopefully go and win a series.
01:48You mentioned checking everyone's OK.
01:50Brendan McCollum said yesterday he was worried about Ben Stokes.
01:54You're close to him.
01:55What can you gauge how he is?
01:57Well, I've had a couple of conversations with him.
01:59You know, I've spoke to him a number of times over the last week or so.
02:02But as you say, we're close friends and I think that it should stay privileged conversations.
02:06They're between me and him and, yeah, that should stay that way.
02:11Can you relate to the stresses and strains that he's going through, though, as England captain, everything that comes with
02:16it?
02:17Yes.
02:18I think it's fair to say over my five years as captain, there was difficult periods
02:24and there are certain times when things can get difficult.
02:26But, again, I think when it comes to how Ben's feeling, how he is, I think they're all questions that
02:32he should be answering himself.
02:33And I'm sure at the right time when he's ready, he will.
02:36Would he be welcomed back in the dressing room?
02:39Does he still have the respect of the players?
02:41I'm sure he has the respect of everyone in our dressing room.
02:44He's been a phenomenal leader for a number of, well, what, for the last four years.
02:48I think the way he's captain's been brilliant.
02:50We've achieved some wonderful things as a team and as a group.
02:53Won a hell of a lot of test matches and clearly he's, you know, he's a talismatic player.
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