Tuesday 7 November 2017 15:54, UK
Stuart Broad insists the England vice-captain roles for the Ashes series is not important.
England are set to announce a new vice-captain with Ben Stokes still at home waiting to hear if he will be charged with causing actual bodily harm after a late-night fracas in Bristol.
Broad, who previously led England's T20 team, is one of several candidates for the role.
Broad told Sky Sports News: "I don't see the vice-captaincy as particularly important in cricket really. You have an amount of senior players who always have an input and you want to open everything to the whole group.
"In cricket, the vice-captain literally takes over if the captain runs off the field and needs the toilet or something. The captain could run off and just say someone take over for an over.
"With the senior players we've got, everyone is having input into tactics and how we're going. We're always talking on the field so I don't think it's a particularly important role and in the group, it's not even been talked about."
Other possible replacements include former Ashes-winning captain Alastair Cook and James Anderson - England's record-breaking seamer who has 506 Test wickets.
Anderson has said he would not turn down the chance to be vice-captain if offered the role.
England coach Trevor Bayliss says he would have been happy not naming a replacement for Stokes, but gave a hint about Root's deputy for the series in Australia.
He said: "There's probably three or four guys in the team who could do it - older guys who have plenty of experience and play that role anyway as leaders of the team."
The first Ashes Test against Australia in Brisbane gets underway at The Gabba in Brisbane on November 23.
