The Newcastle fly-half takes over from Lawrence Dallaglio, who retired from international rugby five weeks ago, and he was the clear favourite to fill the vacancy.

World Cup-winner Wilkinsons first game in charge will be the Twickenham appointment with Canada on November 13, followed by the visit of Tri-Nations champions South Africa a week later and then Australia.

It promises to be a tough baptism for Wilkinson as England begin the post-Sir Clive Woodward era under current caretaker boss Andy Robinson and without the likes of his fellow World Cup heroes Dallaglio, Matt Dawson or Neil Back.

In choosing Wilkinson, England acting head coach Andy Robinson said his priority was to select a player capable of leading England in its defence of the Rugby World Cup in 2007. He believes Wilkinson is the most outstanding candidate.

There are several players in the squad I would feel comfortable in calling upon to be England captain but for me Jonny is in every way the right player to take on this challenge.

He is a natural leader, holds the respect of the whole squad, is a formidable talent on the pitch and consistently demonstrates the energy and commitment I feel is essential to be captain of England."

Captaincy offers a challenging environment for any player, especially following in the footsteps of Lawrence Dallaglio and before him the World Cup captain, Martin Johnson.

But I am confident Jonny has what it takes to do an outstanding job as we look ahead towards the next Rugby World Cup in France and I look forward to working with him.

There have been 117 captains of England since Fred Stokes held the position in 1871 and Wilkinson is thrilled to be offered the role by Robinson.

It's the ambition of so many players to one day be captain of England and today I have realised a dream.

I'm honoured Andy wants me to be his captain, and to follow Lawrence and Martin means a lot to me as they are inspirational men who have given so much to England rugby over many years.

Getting my first England cap against Ireland six years ago was something I'll never forget because to play for your country is very special. Taking on the captaincy is another important step in my career and I do so with immense pride.

Wilkinson, promoted to English rugbys top playing post just four months after his 25th birthday, has scored 817 points in 52 Tests - highlighted by the dramatic drop-goal strike which gave England World Cup glory against Australia last November.

The captaincy role apart, though, he will be just as concerned about re-establishing himself on the international stage.

The 25-year-old missed Englands last eight Tests while he recovered from a career-threatening neck and shoulder injury.

In his absence, the world champions lost five times - against New Zealand (twice), Australia, France and Ireland - and recorded victories over Scotland, Wales and Italy.

Wilkinson has had one previous taste of the England captaincy, taking charge for the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash against Italy at Twickenham in March 2003 when Martin Johnson was injured.

England won 40-5, scoring six tries, but the home side failed to build on a blistering first-half display which saw them register 33 unanswered points.