21-year-old Jacob Bethell is set to become the youngest captain in England’s history, leading the team in the T20I series against Ireland. Inspired by Ben Stokes’ leadership style, Bethell aims to lead by example with his performance on the field.
Jacob Bethell, who is set to become the youngest captain for an international match in England’s history, is looking to channel Test skipper Ben Stokes’ mentality of leading a side ahead of his first assignment in Dublin, Ireland, scheduled to begin on September 17.
The 21-year-old will take over the captaincy duties from designated skipper Harry Brook for the three T20Is against Ireland. Bethell, who surpassed Monty Bowden’s record of leading the Three Lions at the age of 23, has just 29 international appearances under his belt.
While he holds a fair share of experience in leading a side, considering his past skipper stints at the U19 level, Bethell knows taking up the captain’s mantle at the international level will be an enormous task for him.
Bethell inspired by Stokes’s captaincy style
Bethell has played a fair number of games under Ben Stokes. He sees the experienced all-rounder as someone who leads with his actions and hopes to emulate him with his batting performances in Dublin.
“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,” Bethell said.
“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,” he added.
Bethell on being appointed England captain
“Proud” Bethell was a part of England’s 6-0 sweep over the West Indies in the white-ball series earlier this year. As he eagerly waits to make his captaincy debut, the young all-rounder hopes to replicate a similar result.
“Yeah, quite a day. Obviously, finding out is kind of the first emotion that comes is pride. Um, yeah, captain in England is obviously going to be an honour, and I can’t wait to do it. Yeah, definitely. Um, 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 said.
England squad for T20 series vs Ireland: Jacob Bethell (Captain), 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. (ANI)