Rob Key: New England Test vice-captain Harry Brook better leader than Pope

“The vice-captaincy is not always the most important decision you have to make,” Key continued. “When Popey has done it, he’s done it well. He’s fitted into so many different roles that we’ve asked him to do over the past few years and done them all well. Harry is just the better leader and will be the better leader going forward, so that’s why he gets that job.

“Sometimes leadership rests easier with people than others, they are natural at it. Someone like Ben Stokes hadn’t actually been captain that often, but he came in and it sat well with him. It’s the same with Harry. He’s taken it on in white-ball cricket and very quickly set his style and identity, which is very similar to what Ben Stokes does. He’s of that sort of ilk.

“Often, leadership is that thing that you can’t quite describe but you just know it is there and people follow them. Brook is someone, like Stokes, that people follow.”

Speaking the day after England announced their 16-man squad for the Ashes, Key revealed that Pope had been expecting the decision. “Brendon rang him first, I think Ben has rung him and I rang him last night to ask how he’s getting on, and he’s fine,” Key said. “He felt that it was coming.”

Will Jacks, the Surrey spin-bowling all-rounder, was a surprise inclusion in the squad and will act as a second spinning option alongside Shoaib Bashir. Asked why Jacks got the nod ahead of Leicestershire all-rounder Rehan Ahmed, Key said that Jacks was a more versatile player for Australian conditions.

“We had a very different make-up to our side in India and the subcontinent. In what we have coming up, we think Jacks offers a lot of different options,” Key said. “The nature of spin out there as well comes into it.

“Rehan has had a brilliant year with the bat, he’s had a really good few games with the ball but he hasn’t bowled a lot for Leicester. I know it’s not binary — some people haven’t bowled at all for their county [referring to Bashir, who is not Somerset’s first-choice spinner] but being the sole spinner is not something Rehan has done yet. We just feel this is the best way to go.

“Will offers a few things. It just depends on conditions really. When you get on wickets where you might need someone who can bowl a few overs along with Joe Root, you end up with someone who can rest up the seamers if required, but also batting down the lower order might become really important. He adds strength and depth to that.”

On the possibility of playing Jacks ahead of Bashir, Key said: “I think Jacks goes in as a tactical decision as much as a replacement. You can have a second spinner who’s just there as an out-and-out spinner, who is just going to replace if the No1 goes down. We think he [Jacks] is someone who’s not going to be overawed by the occasion, the extra pace and bounce you get over there. He’s just a really handy option to have for the different we might come up against.”

England named six seam bowlers in their 16-man squad including Mark Wood, who has not played at all since having knee surgery in March and the Durham paceman’s recovery has been slower than expected. He was originally pencilled in to play county cricket at the end of the season but is still suffering from some issues after bowling — but Key is optimistic that Wood will be fully recovered by the first Test, which starts on November 21.

“Yeah — his recovery is good, probably a little bit slower than we thought but we’re always erring on the side of caution,” Key said. “The thing Woody always has going for him is he’s never been someone that needs to play lots and lots of games to get into form. He can bowl in nets, bowl in middle practice, then all of a sudden he runs up and bowls 95mph, and he can swing it as well at his best. We’re confident Woody will be absolutely fine. He’ll go out to New Zealand and we’ll have a few players that go out to New Zealand for the ODI series and start doing their prep there. There’s a mixture of different processes we’re going through to get players ready for that first Test.”

Stokes has also had limited playing time in the past couple of months, having missed the final Test of the series against India with a right biceps injury — and Key acknowledged that the England captain won’t play much cricket other than a warm-up match against the England Lions before the start of the Ashes.

“He won’t have a lot of cricket before the Ashes series, but that didn’t stop him last time,” Key said of Stokes. “I think he had probably the best series he’s had for us in three years. With the ball, it’s certainly the best I’ve seen him bowl for a long time, if not ever, and that was without playing a lot of cricket going into the summer. I have no issues with Ben Stokes at all. He’s the type of player that builds and everything he does gets himself ready for these big moments.”

Chris Woakes, however, may not play another Test match, having not recovered from a severely dislocated shoulder in time to be considered for this series and Key gave a strong hint that the Warwickshire all-rounder may have played his last Test.

“It’s been a tough time for him, and the chance of reoccurrence for the immediate future rules him out. He was running out of time to be ready for the start for the Ashes. Once you get out of an Ashes series you’re often looking at the next cycle, really. So Chris Woakes isn’t in our plans. At all.”

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