England’s cricket supremo Rob Key stated on Thursday that it would be "stupid" to rule out Test captain Ben Stokes as a contender for the captaincy of the struggling white-ball team.
The move came after Jos Buttler stepped down following a dismal performance at the ongoing 50-over Champions Trophy tournament, where England lost all three of their group matches in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
England’s white-ball team had suffered 10 defeats in 11 fixtures that year, further intensifying the need for a change in leadership.
Harry Brook, the vice-captain, had seemed poised to take over from Buttler, but his likely role across all three international formats would create an enormous workload.
Key, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) managing director for men’s cricket, considered expanding Stokes’s role to include the white-ball teams.
Stokes, the 33-year-old Durham all-rounder, had been a revelation as a Test captain, succeeding Joe Root.
His leadership had been inspirational, but his age and injury concerns meant he had largely been restricted to Test cricket for the past 16 months.
A potential move to make Stokes the limited-overs captain would strengthen his partnership with Brendon McCullum, England’s coach for both the Test and white-ball teams.
"I think nothing's off the table really," Key said during a media interaction at Lord’s. "Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I’ve ever seen. It would be stupid not to look at him. It's just the knock-on effect of what that means."
Stokes, who had been sidelined due to a hamstring injury, had not played a T20 international since the T20 World Cup final in November 2022.
He had also been absent from one-day internationals since the 2023 50-over World Cup in India.
Key acknowledged that England’s form in limited-overs cricket had deteriorated significantly.
"We were very poor in the Champions Trophy," he admitted. "But the truth is, we haven’t been particularly good in white-ball cricket, probably since the last era when Eoin Morgan did it."
England, under Morgan’s captaincy, had triumphed in the 2019 50-over World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup under Buttler.
However, they had slumped to seventh in the ODI rankings and third in the T20 rankings.
The former England batter also commented on the team’s ultra-aggressive approach under McCullum, which had been criticised by some.
However, Key defended McCullum’s coaching philosophy, asserting, "It’s not true that the only thing he (McCullum) says is go harder, go harder, go harder.
He speaks all the time about soaking up pressure as well." Key emphasised the importance of players making the right decisions at the right time.
Despite England’s struggles, Key stressed that the players did care about their performance.
"Sometimes they’re reckless, sometimes they make the wrong decision at the wrong time. But that’s the game, right?" Key remarked.
"But it’s not a case that all we think is you go out there and play one way...You’ve got to be able to put bowlers under pressure, and good bowlers under pressure, and you’ve got to be able to soak it up and you’ve got to be able to make that decision at the right time."
