{"id":835860,"date":"2026-07-31T15:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835860\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:11:11","slug":"key-keeping-england-door-open-for-stokes-anythings-possible-with-ben-england-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835860\/","title":{"rendered":"Key keeping England door open for Stokes: \u2018Anything\u2019s possible with Ben\u2019 | England cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Key has opened the door for Ben Stokes to return to England\u2019s Test team a month after the former captain\u2019s shock international retirement<\/a>, saying he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if the 35-year-old decides to come back into a new-look red-ball set-up for next summer\u2019s Ashes.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s managing director of men\u2019s cricket insisted his relationship with Stokes has not frayed beyond repair should the player decide to return to the international fold. \u201cNot at all, not as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n

Key admitted that there had been no contact with Stokes but when asked about a possible Test return added: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised \u2013 anything\u2019s possible with Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendon McCullum was sacked<\/a> as England\u2019s Test coach at the end of the recent T20 series against India, though he remains in charge of the white-ball sides. His fellow former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was announced this week<\/a> as his replacement. The decision to appoint another foreign coach has been criticised \u2013 as has Fleming missing the forthcoming three-Test series against Pakistan \u201cto spend time with his family\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job, I believe, is just to get the best person to do the job,\u201d Key said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a stipulation for any of the candidates that you had to be there for Pakistan \u2013 had that been the case, that would have limited the field drastically. It was about trying to get the best person. Like you have in life, you have things you have to do that have been planned a long way in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleming will arrive in England in September, potentially in time to meet the squad during their final Test of the summer, at Edgbaston in its second week. \u201cThat\u2019s where we really start setting everything up: the way that we want this team to go, how do we put [plans] in place?\u201d said Key.<\/p>\n

Stephen Fleming is currently in New Zealand and will not lead the Test team in the forthcoming series against Pakistan. Photograph: Prakash Singh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then it will be all on from there. We\u2019re already speaking all the time, every opportunity we have. He\u2019s speaking with Joe Root, [interim coach] Marcus Trescothick, starting to really get into the ins and outs of our setup. So much as he\u2019ll be over from September, he\u2019s already very much in the weeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to reappoint Root as captain<\/a>, just over four years after he resigned from the role in part because of its impact on his mental health, was made in consultation with Fleming, and the offer apparently accepted without hesitation.<\/p>\n

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Though Stokes had backed Harry Brook for the captaincy, and Brook had declared himself ready for it, the 27-year-old has been left in charge of the white-ball teams where he will \u201ccontinue learning how to become an outstanding leader\u201d, with Root preferred as \u201cthe most senior player by a long, long way\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen and I spoke a lot about who we felt the best person was, and we felt Joe Root is that at the moment. It\u2019s just too soon for Harry Brook,\u201d Key said. \u201cWhen I came into the job I was not fully aware of everything Joe had gone through as captain: a series against India in India, which has always been tough, then an Ashes series, which is incredibly tough, then dealing with Covid.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he has the chance to work with what I believe is the best coach. Those two will be a great complimentary pairing to take England forward. He\u2019s our best ever batter, a great cricketer that can actually now have a chance to captain the side without any of the stuff he had to deal with last time. I\u2019m just so glad he gets that chance. At some stage Harry Brook will be an outstanding Test captain. We just didn\u2019t feel the time was right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Key has opened the door for Ben Stokes to return to England\u2019s Test team a month after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-835860","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\/835860","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=835860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}