Jos Buttler's resignation as England's white-ball captain after the Champions Trophy 2025 has again brought back the question if Ben Stokes will make a return to the ODI side after announcing his retirement from the format in 2022, only to return for the ODI World Cup in 2023. Stokes, who is England's biggest clutch player in white-ball formats, is already captain of the Test team.
ECB director Rob Key feels it would be "stupid" not to consider Stokes, who has proven himself to be an "unbelievably good tactician".
"Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I've ever seen. So it would be stupid not to look at him. It's just the knock-on effect of what that means," Key, director of men's cricket in the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.
"He's an unbelievably good tactician, which we've seen in Test cricket, but he's a leader of men. He's someone who gets the best out of people.
"He's someone that, when the pressure is really on, he's able to throw a blanket around the players and actually say, 'no, no, this is the way forward. Keep going with it," Key added in high praise of the impactful but injury-prone pace-bowling all-rounder.
Will Ben Stokes take England's white-ball captaincy?
For the unversed, Stokes is currently in Abu Dhabi recovering with an England Lions training group after suffering a hamstring injury. The all-rounder is keen to be fit and raring to go for the summer assignments, which included a five-match Test series against India. Key, who also is in UAE opines Stokes has the ability to revive England's white-ball team with his spark and attitude.
"They're the qualities that you need in leadership. Ben's, as we know, an outstanding player, an outstanding leader. It's more about what would then mean to him. What would that then mean to his workload?" he wondered.
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However, the big question remains whether Stokes would take England's white-ball captaincy since he is no longer interested in playing ODIs. Also, with the talismanic all-rounder turning 35 in June 2025, the bigger question remains whether he is the right candidate for England's white-ball captaincy. With the ODI World Cup 2027 still two years away, England would be vying for a younger candidate who plays both ODIs and T20.
Currently, with Stokes only playing Test and T20, giving him ODI captaincy will be too much of a burden, considering the fair share of injuries he has had in the last two years.
