Stokes on Monday announced his sudden retirement from ODI cricket, saying that the rigours of playing all three formats of the game were "unsustainable" for him and he was not able to give his 100 percent to the team in the 50-over format.
Root's unbeaten innings brought him to his 27th Test century. According to the ICC, the 31-year-old has 10 World Test Championship tonnes and nearly 1,000 more WTC runs than his closest challenger, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne (2,180 runs).
Nicholls is a key member of New Zealand's Test squad. He has eight centuries in 46 games, with a 40.38 average.
The two ageing warhorses were strangely left out of England's three-Test tour of the Caribbean earlier this year, with selectors instead opting to give more opportunities to the next generation of seam bowlers.
While England has the "right personnel in charge," Pietersen believes the entire cricket structure needs a "shake-up" to get the team out of its "doom-and-gloom" situation.
He succeeds right-handed batter Joe Root, who resigned from the role in April this year, in becoming the 81st captain of the England men's Test team.
A report in iNews said that England men's cricket's new managing director, Rob Key had travelled to Durham for a "face-to-face" meeting with Stokes to "discuss the role", and that the 30-year-old all-rounder could be officially unveiled as England's new Test skipper "in the next 48 hours".
Joe Root's men wore black armbands when the teams stood for their respective national anthems before the visitors came out to bat.
Denly has been replaced by Liam Livingstone.
The three-match series will be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment commencing from 5 August.
