Collingwood's appointment comes after Chris Silverwood's sacking from his position as head coach following their disappointing Ashes loss in Australia. Instead of bringing a new head coach into the mix, the ECB has decided to elevate Collingwood to the role from his position as Assistant Coach to make the transition as smooth as possible.

The former England all-rounder also took charge of England's tour of the West Indies last month, where they locked horns in five T20Is.

"I am genuinely excited to be leading the Test team for the tour of the Caribbean. I can't wait to get started," Collingwood said.

"Having a challenging Test series against the West Indies straight off the back of the Ashes disappointment gives us a chance from now to reset and rebuild," he added.

Collingwood represented England in 68 Tests, 197 ODIs and 36 T20Is, and amassed just a shade under 10,000 runs in the three formats combined. He was also an effective medium pacer with a total of 144 international wickets to his name.

England's squad for the Test series against West Indies is expected to be announced on Tuesday, with the touring party expected to depart for the Caribbean on 24 February. England will play a four-day warm-up match before taking on West Indies in the three matches in Antigua, Barbados and Grenada respectively.