It is 3 a.m. somewhere in London, and Ben Stokes has just handed Joe Root the England captaincy back. Not voluntarily — but that is the effect of a nightclub incident in the early hours of Monday morning, which has forced the ECB to stand down both Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson ahead of the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval, starting 17 June.

The two players broke the team's midnight curfew and were present when Saracens rugby player Totoa Auvaa struck a member of England's security staff. The ECB's investigation is ongoing, and a separate Cricket Regulator inquiry may not be resolved for weeks. Root, 35, steps in as interim captain — a role he knows intimately. He led England in a record 64 Tests between 2017 and 2022, before resigning after a punishing run of just one win in 17 matches.

His good friend Stokes took over and transformed the side. Now, with Stokes suspended and vice-captain Harry Brook overlooked — Brook himself was punched outside a Wellington nightclub in October — it is Root who answers the call once more. The timing is particularly damaging. England won the first Test at Lord's by 115 runs, and the series appeared to be moving in a positive direction after a bruising 4–1 Ashes defeat in Australia, a tour already clouded by off-field drama.

Losing Stokes strips England of their most influential all-rounder at the very moment momentum was building. Jofra Archer and Jordan Cox have been added to a reshuffled squad, and the ECB has denied asking Stokes to resign, giving him time to "consider his options." Whether that means his return is a matter of weeks — or something far less certain — is a question nobody at Lord's headquarters seems ready to answer yet.