England all-rounder Jacob Bethell is ready to lead from the front like Ben Stokes ahead of his captaincy debut against Ireland. Bethell is set to become England’s youngest captain ever, having been entrusted with the leadership duties for the three T20Is against Ireland set to be played from September 17.
, Bethell is set to lead the side in the absence of Harry Brook, who has been rested for the series. He’s set to break Monty Parker Bowden’s record who led England at the age of 23 years, 144 days against South Africa at Cape Town on the Test tour of 1888-89.
Ahead of his captaincy debut, Bethell is aiming to lead by example like their Test captain Ben Stokes.
“I think a big thing I’ve noticed with Stokesy is that he leads with actions. He’s always kind of the guy that takes the precedence and takes the situation on himself. So I’ll be looking to do that as much as possible. Obviously, he does it in a bit of a different way with bowling, bowling fast and stuff like that, but I’ll try and be doing that with a bat and ball and in the field as much as possible. But yeah, I think the biggest thing is trying to lead by example,” said Bethell on Sky Sports.
Bethell is also aiming to recreate their 6-0 white ball series whitewash against West Indies from earlier this year in the upcoming tour.
“Yeah, quite a day. Obviously, finding out is kind of the first emotion that comes is pride. Yeah, captain in England is obviously going to be an honour, and I can’t wait to do it. Yeah, definitely, obviously getting picked for England’s always an honour. But yeah, we had a great series against West Indies at the start of this summer,” he added.
Bethell has played 13 T20Is in his career so far with 281 runs at an average of 40.14 and has also scalped four wickets. He has played two matches in the Indian Premier League as well, for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
England Squad For Ireland T20Is
Jacob Bethell (c), Rehan Ahmed, Sonny Baker, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Jamie Overton, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Luke Wood.