FORMER England captain Chris Cowdrey believes the job has come a year too soon for new Three Lions skipper Joe Root.

Yorkshire batsman Root will succeed Alastair Cook, who called time on his four-and-a-half year reign earlier this month.

Cook led England in a record 59 Tests, but Cowdrey would have preferred the Essex man to remain in situ for another 12 months in order to allow Root to focus entirely on his batting.

Root is a pivotal figure in England teams across all three forms of the game – and Cowdrey is concerned about the workload being heaped on the country's premier cricketer.

Cowdrey, whose touring show with former England star David Gower will visit Bournemouth Pavilion on March 5, told the Daily Echo: "I would have liked Alastair Cook to have done the job for another year.

"Joe Root seems to be the man, and he’s a lovely guy, but we have two tough Test series coming up with South Africa coming here and then the Ashes tour.

"I would have liked Cook to have taken charge for both of those series.

"Not because I don’t think Joe Root is capable. But because I want him to score as many runs as possible in those two series."

Root boasts a Test average of 52.80 and is rated as the world's third best batsman.

The two players ranked above him, Australia's Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, India's latest cricketing superstar, have both elevated their batting into a different stratosphere after assuming the captaincy of their respective countries.

Smith's average while in charge of his country is 71, up from 53 when he was a member of the rank and file.

The responsibility of captaincy has seen Kohli score his runs at a rate of 67 per innings, a vast improvement on the 41 he averaged back in the ranks.

Cowdrey added: "It will be a spin of the coin – is Root still going to make the same runs as captain or will the extra pressures prove detrimental to his batting?

"If they are, it really will be a shame because he is a world class player.

"But he is still young. I just want him to have another year as a batsman alone."

While Cowdrey skippered his country in one Test match – against West Indies in 1988 – his father Colin captained England in 27 of his 114 Tests.

Chris believes people are born to lead. And that is a trait he does identify in Root, whose own first-class captaincy experience is limited to the four matches in which he has piloted his county, Yorkshire.

"I do think Root is a born leader," said Cowdrey.

"When England get a wicket, he’s always the first one in there, he's the most excited person of all that England have done well.

"When he’s batting with someone in the middle you see a partnership, you don’t see Joe Root batting for Joe Root.

"I know he’s captained a few games and everyone said he was great to play for.

"I just hope he does alright."

Tickets for Chris Cowdrey and David Gower's The Holy Bail are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk or www.ebplive.co.uk