England pace bowler James Anderson has described Joe Root as the "obvious candidate" to become the new Test captain following Alastair Cook's decision to step down.

The Essex batsman announced on Monday that he has relinquished the role of captain after leading England in 59 Tests.

Cook hopes to remain opening batsman for his country, but attention has now turned to who will replace him, with Root the overwhelming favourite to take over.

The 26-year-old has scored 4,594 Test runs since making his debut on December 13, 2012, and no other batsman has racked up as many in that time.

Anderson, who is England's leading wicket-taker, believes that Root would be able to cope with the pressure of being captain but is wary that the new role could affect his batting.

"Root is fairly quiet but he has got that fire in his belly. He's a really impressive young man," Anderson told BBC Radio 5 live.

"Root gets into situations, one-on-ones, with people. He speaks a lot of sense when he does speak and he's a really impressive young man.

"He's the obvious candidate. The decision is a big one because he's our best player, so you obviously don't want that to be affected."

The ECB is expected to make a decision regarding the captaincy next week.