County Championship captains back Root to shine for England

A majority of County Championship captains have backed Joe Root over captain Ben Stokes to shine for England this summer.

Ten of the 18 counties backed Root, former England captain, to score the most runs for the national team this summer.

England take on the West Indies and Sri Lanka this summer across six Tests.

Three captains answered Kent’s Zak Crawley, two voted for Harry Brook and the 18th captain voted for Ollie Pope.

The data comes as part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s annual anonymous survey of the 18 County Championship captains ahead of the new season, which begins on Friday.

12 of the 18 captains have backed James Anderson to take the most wickets — two backed Matthew Potts and Chris Woakes while one backed Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood.

County Championship survey in full

Which county (not including your county) do you think will win Division One?

12: Surrey, 2: Lancashire, 1: Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Warwickshire.

Which two counties (not including your own) do you think will be promoted from Division Two?

14: Yorkshire, 9: Middlesex, 7: Sussex, 4: Northamptonshire, 2: Derbyshire.

Which player (not from your county) will be the leading run scorer in Division One?

3: James Vince (Hampshire); 2: Dean Elgar (Essex), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Dan Lawrence (Surrey); 1: Tom Abell (Somerset), David Bedingham (Durham), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Nick Gubbins (Hampshire), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Dom Sibley (Surrey), Tom Westley (Essex).

Which player (not from your county) will be the leading wicket-taker in Division One?

5: Simon Harmer (Essex); 3: Matthew Potts (Durham), Dan Worrall (Surrey); 2: Kyle Abbott (Hampshire), Sam Cook (Essex); 1: Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Nathan Lyon (Lancashire), Chris Rushworth (Warwickshire).

Which player (not from your county) will be the leading run scorer in Division Two?

4: Leus du Plooy (Middlesex), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire); 2: Wayne Madsen (Derbyshire); 1: Cameron Bancroft (Gloucestershire), Finlay Bean (Yorkshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Chris Dent (Gloucestershire), Shan Masood (Yorkshire), Sam Northeast (Glamorgan), Jack Morley (Derbyshire), Prithvi Shaw (Northamptonshire).

Which player (not from your county) will be the leading wicket-taker in Division Two?

3: Ben Coad (Yorkshire), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex); 2: Ethan Bamber (Middlesex), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ryan Higgins (Middlesex), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Ben Sanderson (Northamptonshire); 1: Zak Chappell (Derbyshire), George Scrimshaw (Northamptonshire).

Who will score the most runs for England Men in Test cricket this summer?

10: Joe Root (Yorkshire); 3: Zak Crawley (Kent); 2: Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire); 1: Ollie Pope (Surrey).

Who will take the most wickets for England Men in Test cricket this summer?

12: James Anderson (Lancashire); 2: Matthew Potts (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire); 1: Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Mark Wood (Durham).

Who are, in your opinion, the two most exciting young England-qualified players (not from your county – and aged 23 or under at start of year) to watch out for in the Vitality County Championship this summer?

11: James Rew (Somerset); 4: Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Tom Lawes (Surrey); 2: Ben McKinney (Durham), Tawanda Muyeye (Kent), Ollie Price (Gloucestershire), John Turner (Hampshire); 1: Finlay Bean (Yorkshire), James Coles (Sussex), George Hill (Yorkshire), Noah Thain (Essex).