Not Sam Curran or Harry Brook, Stuart Broad names outside pick as England's future captain

Stuart Broad has lined up Ollie Pope's name as the future captain of the England cricket team. Pope has his first taste of captaincy as the 25-year-old has been given the charge to lead the team in the absence of Ben Stokes against New Zealand XI in Hamilton. The Three Lions are scheduled to play a two-match Test series with the Kiwis starting on February 16.

Stuart Broad picks his future England captain

Pope's influence on the England side has been growing off late and Stuart Broad feels he could be a serious contender for the captaincy role in the near future. "I think Popey is a great leader. "He speaks really well in the group, he's got a great cricket mind and there's no doubt you can see him as a future England captain."

Ollie Pope hasn't really spoken much about his aspiration for the lead role in the team but he opened up that he will keep helping out in any capacity for the team. "For now there's no title on it - I'm just going to keep helping out where I can. "There's no label on it, but it might be an option they are looking at in the future. It's just good to be seen as a leader in that dressing room.

"Stokesy is the captain, he knows exactly how he wants to run it, but he comes up and bounces ideas off me sometimes, and he'll do the same with some of the really experienced guys in the changing room too." 

The England batsman also heaped praises on England coach Brendon McCullum and his captain.

"Baz (Brendon) McCullum and Stokesy have been great. They've allowed us young players to grow and I think each one of us feel like it's our team now.

"I'm just going to keep developing that cricket brain and if it came about in the future, great, I'll make sure I learn as much as possible before then. At the same time I realise I've got a big job at number three to keep doing. If I can keep impressing there, who knows what the future holds?"