{"id":769259,"date":"2026-06-30T05:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769259\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:18","slug":"ben-stokes-retirement-england-cricket-team-left-rudderless-as-skipper-departs-with-series-loss-to-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769259\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Stokes retirement: England cricket team left rudderless as skipper departs with series loss to New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

June 30, 2026 \u2014 11:30am<\/p>\n

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Key pointsEngland were bowled out for 212 by New Zealand on day five of the Trent Bridge Test, losing the match by 160 runs.The result came the day after captain Ben Stokes abruptly announced his retirement from international cricket.It meant the Kiwis won the three-match series 2-1; their first series win in England since 1999.England next play Australia in a one-off Test at the MCG in March, 2027, followed by a home Ashes series in June and July.<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes has insisted he isn\u2019t thinking about a comeback for next year\u2019s Ashes, reckoning he will watch the battle from \u201ca hospitality box\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following his retirement, England\u2019s Test team looks ready for hospital, being leaderless, rudderless and with captains past and present arguing over the future. Their next attempt to regain the urn is now fewer than 12 months away.<\/p>\n

\"BenBen Stokes bows out of international cricket after his England team\u2019s Test series loss to New Zealand.Getty Images<\/p>\n

For his part, Stokes kicked off the post-mortem by arguing that deputy Harry Brook should replace him as captain despite the younger man\u2019s numerous behavioural issues off the field and a succession of harebrained shots on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason he was asked to be vice captain of this team,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cI know with all the controversy over the last couple of weeks, decisions were made. They were decisions I was not part of making. You are asked to be vice captain for a reason, and I was vice captain under Joe [Root] for a long time. It\u2019s the natural progression; if the captain is not there, you step up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no reason why Harry shouldn\u2019t be asked to do that. You don\u2019t ask someone to be vice captain if you don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the skills and ability to captain the team. If I was to be asked who I think should do it, I would be throwing my 100 per cent support behind Harry Brook.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Stokes gave a less than lukewarm endorsement of coach Brendon McCullum and team director Rob Key, insisting the new captain have a say in how the team\u2019s management looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat me, Brendon and Rob have managed to do over four-and-a-half years, I\u2019m not going to lie, it\u2019s been an interesting ride,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had incredible highs and some pretty low lows as well. It\u2019s always worked and connected pretty well in terms of what we\u2019ve wanted to achieve. It doesn\u2019t always work out the way you want it to work out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen me and Brendon first took over, we were very clear in what we wanted to do. That\u2019s going to be no different for who\u2019s next. Both captain and coach need to come together, put their ideas together and believe in what they\u2019re trying to do going forward. Whoever that may be, that\u2019s what needs to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a commentator, former skipper Mike Atherton declared Bazball dead at the place where it all began once New Zealand had wrapped a momentous 2-1 series victory in Nottingham. Writing in The Times afterwards, Atherton made it clear as day that he did not think Brook was up to the job of captaincy.<\/p>\n

\u201cStokes threw his weight fully behind Brook as captain, though it is hard to see why,\u201d Atherton wrote. \u201cBrook ought to have been sacked in the winter after his night out before the final ODI in Wellington and much of what has happened since can be laid at the failure to take stronger action then. Is he really the right man to lead the Test team? Nothing we have seen suggests so, though admittedly alternatives are thin on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Root, Harry Brook, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes on the balcony at Trent Bridge as their team careers towards a comprehensive Test match defeat.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBrook\u2019s scatter-brained nine-ball innings on the fourth evening was hardly that of a man ready to step up as captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, who is not only a former captain but also a member of the same management stable as Stokes, focused his glare upon Key and McCullum, arguing that now was the time for total change.<\/p>\n

The loss to New Zealand was England\u2019s first at home in a full series since 2012, and first to New Zealand in the UK since 1999. They now sit seventh on the World Test Championship table ahead of only Pakistan and West Indies, having never contended for (or respected) the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough is enough,\u201d Vaughan wrote in the Telegraph. \u201cNow is the time for a complete clear-out, with the coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key going too.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t cope with watching English cricket be so wasteful any more. As a former captain, I cannot stand by and watch us play like this against a New Zealand team who are down to their bare bones after injury and the retirement of Kane Williamson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atherton and Vaughan both recommended the return of Andy Flower as coach, for the Test side at least. McCullum, though, seems hellbent on keeping the job and a lucrative contract that runs to the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project isn\u2019t finished yet,\u201d he said. \u201cMy enthusiasm and my commitment to English cricket has never wavered.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum did admit, however, to an unsuccessful attempt to get Stokes to reconsider his decision. McCullum was also hesitant to endorse Brook as England captain, meaning the job may well return to the old stager Root.<\/p>\n

\"FansFans show Stokes their appreciation.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no success whatsoever. You know Ben,\u201d McCullum said. \u201cWe have had a lot of conversations recently, so I had an inkling something was maybe coming. But when he grabbed me yesterday at the ground and said, \u2018Baz, I am done\u2019, I said, \u2018Slow down, don\u2019t make any rash decisions right now\u2019. He said, \u2018I am content\u2019. We sat for 10 to 15 seconds in silence, and I said I was a bit sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pageantry that accompanied Stokes\u2019 retirement, soon followed by a blaze of reckless batting that handed the series to New Zealand, was called out by another former skipper, Andrew Strauss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not convinced that the whole thing was orchestrated the right way,\u201d Strauss wrote on LinkedIn. \u201cIt seems like a huge distraction to a team that was battling to avoid a series defeat and the cricket in the last session very much had an \u2018end-of-term\u2019 feel to it.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has the right to bow out on their own terms, and no one has earned that more than Ben, but announcing before or after the game seems like a more sensible approach. When you are in the middle of a match, the only thing that matters is the performance of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes made a lot of England\u2019s role as saviours of Test cricket, even calling them \u201ca sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket\u201d. But on the final day at Trent Bridge, the ground was about a third full despite free admission. By the time Stokes spoke as captain for the final time at the post-match presentation, even those few loyalists had all but gone.<\/p>\n

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\"DanielDaniel Brettig<\/a> is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 30, 2026 \u2014 11:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-769259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}