Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has publicly suggested that Ben Stokes might reconsider his sudden Test retirement and make a dramatic comeback for the upcoming 2027 Ashes series.

Speaking on a radio station SEN, McDonald noted that the 35-year-old former England captain still has "a lot of good cricket left in him". He expects England's incoming head coach—following the departure of Brendon McCullum—to "twist his arm" and convince him to return for one final iconic clash against Australia.

McDonald labeled a potential return as the ultimate promotional "fairytale" for the high-stake Ashes series in England next year.

"I think the fairytale would be that he comes back out of retirement and takes on one more Ashes and builds a lot of hype on the way in," McDonald said.

"If you're looking at promoting that series, that's probably the angle that you would want, that he comes out of retirement.

"To me, he's still got a lot of good cricket left in him. It'll be a fascinating watch. I think that whoever the new head coach that comes in potentially has a conversation with him.

"We don't know why Ben left. I don't think there's been anything on the record around the definitive reason as to why. He may have just called it a day on Test cricket, and that's it, so there might be a full stop there,” he added.

Stokes officially retired from international cricket following the conclusion of the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge last month, opening up the Test captaincy role. Days later, McCullum stepped down as Test coach of the England team.

Joe Root and Marcus Trescothick have been tipped to take over the leadership roles on an interim basis.

"Or there might be an opportunity for that new head coach to potentially twist his arm and bring him back in. But if it ends now, he's had a wonderful career in terms of what he's brought to the game, his impact in certain innings and moments in time. It will age pretty well for him to look back on," McDonald said.

On a separate note, the Australian coach urged the International Cricket Council to expand the 2027 ODI World Cup squad size limit from 15 to 17 players.

This proposal comes in response to a newly structured, expanded format for the quadrennial event across South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

"One of the big things from my perspective is if it's going to be your pinnacle event, what do your squad sizes look like?" McDonald said.

"We had the dilemma of what it looked like having a 15-player squad for the last World Cup, and I think New Zealand were in the same boat where we had a couple of injuries, Travis Head being the most notable one, and I think Kane Williamson and a couple of others for New Zealand, where you end up with sort of 12-13 players to select from early on in your tournament, and you're trying to carry those other players through the early rounds, and you're not able to play potentially the way that you want to play, or structure up the way that you think you need to, and in particular in countries where you in the north or the south or the east or the west, the conditions change quite significantly," he added.