Warwickshire are still mulling over who will captain the team into the new season as Jim Troughton continues his recovery from a back operation.
With Troughton ruled out for the first six weeks of the season at least, the Bears must look elsewhere for a man to orchestrate the first third of their championship programme.
And there are two “very viable options”, in Varun Chopra and Ian Bell, admits director of cricket Dougie Brown.
Chopra led the team last season after Troughton’s back problem flared up again and did it very well and, in other circumstances, to hand the reins to him would be the obvious choice.
But Warwickshire will have Bell available for the opening weeks of the season and he has led them impressively in the past, not least when they lifted the CB40 Trophy at Lord’s in 2010.
All-rounder Chris Woakes has even emerged as an outside bet after skippering England Lions in Sri Lanka last month.
“We still have to make that decision,” Brown said.
“The great thing is we have got someone who has played 98 Test matches and has a wealth of experience and then we have someone who captained the team really well in Jim’s absence last year.
“Both have the total respect of the guys in the dressing room and would do a great job.
“Woakesy has just come back from a really successful campaign as captain of the Lions, though realistically he has a lot to contend with anyway what with batting and bowling and hopefully getting himself back into the England side.
“I think that’s probably enough for him to focus on without the captaincy as well but Belly and Varun are both very viable options and we will make that decision over the next few weeks.”
