England Considering Ben Stokes for White-Ball Captaincy
With England’s campaign in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 coming to an abrupt end after their performance debacle and failure in qualification to the semi-finals, the England Cricket Board (ECB) has some hard-searching to do.
Spearheaded by the Managing Director Rob Key and the Head Coach Brendon McCullum, the onus to rework their current approach is indispensable. Post England’s exit, the preceding skipper Jos Buttler renounced his captaincy through a post-match press conference and expressed his desire to instead continue as a player and hand over the baton to a new captain.
As a result, the hunt for a new leader is on. As per the media reports, England’s current Test captain Ben Stokes is being considered as a potential replacement for the limited-overs format. The director of men’s cricket, Key emphasized that it would be stupid not to explore that option, given Stokes’ fine leadership skills and the need to revive England’s struggling white-ball setup.
Rob Key while speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, appreciated Stokes’ captaincy style and highlighted his ability to maintain the calmness under pressure. He also noted the exceptional tactical acumen in Test cricket, making him a strong candidate for the ODI role.
Key believes that Stokes could rejuvenate England’s ODI team, just as he did with the Test side. His strong rapport with Brendon McCullum who is now the all-format coach for England may further fuel this thought strongly.
Though Stokes has not played any ODI games since the 2023 World Cup, his reversal of the retirement decision did grab ample eyeballs. Hoping to see him in action in the Champions Trophy, the chance was jinxed with a second hamstring tear in six months, sustained during the third Test against New Zealand.
Under Stokes and McCullum’s joint leadership, England have won 22 out of 35 Tests since 2022, a credible performance score. However, the same is not true for McCullum’s stint with the white-ball team so far, which has been uneven and losing 10 out of 11 matches.
Key in his media interaction cited the example of a champion side like Team India and emphasized on how India’s Test players have played a crucial role in their ODI success. Having the same captain for both Test and fifty-over format as in Rohit Sharma has proved to be highly successful for the Indian side and Key aspires to emulate the same for his country too.
My Perspective:
Despite his leadership potential, Stokes’ injury record remains a concern. England’s packed schedule in the new year promises a lot of travel, bilateral series both in the Test and ODI format. The decision on Stokes being handed over the white-ball captaincy will depend on his fitness and workload management in the coming months.
Interestingly, in the present scenario, Harry Brook is the current vice-captain of the limited overs format. Ideally the white-ball captaincy should be accorded to Brooks by virtue of his position and given the consistency in playing games for England, as opposed to the other contender Ben Stokes.
Brook has played 26 ODI matches so far and scored 816 runs with a strike rate of 100.74. The young and dynamic middle-order batsman has a long career ahead and brings in fresh energy to the team. Ben Stokes on the other hand has been a part of 114 ODI matches with 3400 plus runs and 74 wickets as an all-rounder.
Though by the looks of it, it is quite possible only the T20I format is handed over to him and ODI team is led by Stokes given the seniority and experience he brings into play. There is no doubt that McCullum would be open to having Stokes on board, with their fantastic record in test cricket.
