Former England pacer Stuart Broad has warned the England cricket board as they aspire to name Test captain Ben Stokes as the new England ODI captain as well. This comes after Jos Buttler stepped down as England's white-ball captain post the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 debacle.
England failed to win a single match in their group B, losing to Afghanistan, South Africa, and Australia, and failed to qualify for the semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025. After this, ECB managing director Rob Ked suggested Stokes among the potential candidates for the ODI captaincy.
“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. I think nothing’s off the table really. You look at every single option and you think, right, what is the best thing to do? How is that going to impact on other things?,” Key told reporters.
While Stokes had previously hinted at returning for the Champions Trophy, a hamstring rupture during last year's New Zealand tour dashed those hopes. Stokes has not played a 50-over match since the 2023 ODI World Cup, for which he returned from retirement.
Stokes' name is being floated as a prospective ODI leadership candidate, but his former teammate Broad has warned against the idea.
“Going for Stokes would be a move of desperation. I would be lost for words if England appointed him. Firstly, there is the schedule. He’s not going to the Indian Premier League to try to prioritize the Test match team and get his physicality right for the big events on the horizon. How many overs has Stokes bowled successfully in the last three years while battling his knee injuries? Not many.
And you’re going to add another eight to 10 overs in a 50-over format onto his workload? The mathematics of that makes no sense. As someone who played 121 one-day internationals, I can honestly say I found the 50-over format more tiring than Test match cricket. Why? Because it’s such high intensity,” Broad told Daily Mail.
“You bowl 10 overs in three and a half hours, during which you are running from fielding positions, sprinting after balls all the time, nonstop. Ben Stokes is the best captain we’ve got, but it doesn’t mean he’s the right person to do the 50-over job,” Broad remarked.
Stokes will have a demanding year in Test cricket, with two heavyweight five-match series against India at home and the Ashes in Australia later this year. England will play a three-match ODI series against the West Indies at the end of May.
