Joe Root has admitted the third Test against the West Indies could be his last as captain with English cricket braced for a summer of change.
Paul Collingwood has been instilled as interim coach for the tour, with the ECB set to make a full-time appointment ahead of the home series with New Zealand in June. And Root's position could well hinge on the outcome of the game in Grenada, which starts at 2pm GMT on Wednesday.
The Yorkshireman has taken charge of his country a record 63 times in the five-day format, but his position has been the subject of intense scrutiny since England's harrowing 4-0 Ashes defeat over the winter. The series in the Caribbean has been viewed as the first step of a rebuild for the red-ball team, but displays have been mixed thus far with successive draws in Antigua and Barbados.
There has been nothing wrong with the skipper's own form, backing up a stellar year with the bat in 2021 with centuries in both games, and he's set to pass 10,000 Test runs this week. But despite vowing not to walk away from the role of captain, he conceded he may not have a choice.
"I think I'm the right man to take the team forward," he said. “But if the head coach comes in and thinks differently, that's fine, that's their decision.
“I'm a massive England fan. I just want to see us do well. So I'll keep doing everything I can to make us as good as we can be and if that means in time I'm no longer in this position, I'll still do everything I can to help this team and to try to take us to be the best team in the world. That will never change."
Indeed, Root insisted his commitment to performing for the national side remained as strong as ever, with or without the armband. "That passion for making England as good as we can be will always be there, whatever capacity I have within this team.
“I really hope I get that opportunity but it's completely out of my control. The thing that is in my control is helping this team put in a really strong performance to win this series.”
Root's primary focus though, will be trying to help his bowlers take 20 wickets in the third Test, having failed to bowl the hosts out on the final day in the previous two matches. That quest has been hindered by confirmation that Ollie Robinson will again not be fit to play any part.
Instead, Craig Overton will come in for Matt Fisher, who struggled on debut at the Kensington Oval after a dream start when he notched his first Test wicket with his just his second ball. And Root acknowledged that his side had to find a killer instinct after just one win in 16 Tests.
"As time goes on, the one thing you never want is for a side to forget how to win," he said. "If we keep playing as we are and keeping putting ourselves in the positions we have in the previous two Tests, we will find ourselves winning games again."
Following the series with New Zealand, England face India in a one-off Test, rearranged from last summer. They will then play another home series with South Africa.
