{"id":722154,"date":"2026-08-01T04:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722154\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T04:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:07:19","slug":"rob-key-leaves-door-open-for-ben-stokes-to-make-england-test-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722154\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Key leaves door open for Ben Stokes to make England Test return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Key has left the door open for Ben Stokes to return to the England side for next year\u2019s Ashes series, with the England and Wales Cricket Board\u2019s (ECB) managing director for men\u2019s cricket admitting he considered his own position after a tumultuous summer.<\/p>\n

Stokes gave up the captaincy and abruptly retired from international cricket<\/a> as his side slipped to defeat in the third Test against New Zealand last month, a loss that saw the series surrendered 2-1, with Brendon McCullum subsequently sacked<\/a> as head coach of the England red-ball team.<\/p>\n

However, speaking to the media on Friday after playing a key role in the appointment of Stokes\u2019 and McCullum\u2019s successors, Joe Root and Stephen Fleming<\/a>, Key did not rule out the possibility of Stokes returning to the side in future.<\/p>\n

When asked if he had discussed a Stokes comeback with Fleming with one eye on the visit of Australia next summer, Key said: \u201cWe haven\u2019t got round to that at the moment, but it would be a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Sky Sports if Stokes himself had suggested coming back<\/a>, Key said: \u201cNo, he hasn\u2019t but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. Anything\u2019s possible with Ben.\u201c<\/p>\n

Further pressed on whether bridges had been burned with Stokes, Key added: \u201cNo, not at all. Not as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Rob Key has come under pressure since England\u2019s Ashes debacle over the winter (Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Key admitted he had considered his own position after the 4-1 defeat to Australia in the Ashes over the winter, questions around a drinking culture in the England side with Stokes, vice-captain Harry Brook and other players involved in various controversies, and this summer\u2019s series loss to New Zealand which prompted the departures of McCullum and Stokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all of the above,\u201d Key said, when asked if he had thought about stepping down, or whether he feared he would be sacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course you do (consider your position). This is a job where you\u2019re constantly under pressure all the time. There\u2019s uncertainty in it all the time. That\u2019s part of being in this role. How close I came (to being sacked), I don\u2019t know. How close I came myself (to resigning), what I was thinking, I obviously know.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s been a good few months \u2014 and even before that \u2014 where you\u2019re constantly thinking, \u2018Are you the right person? What is the thing you\u2019ve got to do? Are you the person to put that in place?\u2019 I believe I am, but that\u2019s for the people above me to decide all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

England confirmed the appointment of Fleming and Root as new Test head coach and captain this week. Key explained that it was \u201ctoo soon\u201d for Brook, who had been vice-captain under Stokes and leads the England white-ball teams, to take on the Test role too \u2014 particularly with a 50-over World Cup to come next year.<\/p>\n

He will continue to work under McCullum, who retained his position as white-ball coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry\u2019s still developing as a player and as a person,\u201d Key said. \u201cThe Test match captaincy is the biggest job in cricket in England. Harry can now continue on the project he\u2019s done in the white-ball job and continue learning how to become an outstanding leader of a cricket team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some stage Harry Brook will be an outstanding Test captain of England cricket. I just didn\u2019t feel the time was right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

\n Harry Brook has forged a strong relationship with the white-ball coach Brendon McCullum (Oli Scarff\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Key said that details are still being worked out on when exactly Fleming will start work, but it definitely would not be for the upcoming home series against Pakistan. Key said that it would have \u201cnarrowed the field considerably\u201d if availability for that series was a stipulation for the job: assistant coach Marcus Trescothick will lead the side for those games on an interim basis.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Fleming) will first come over in September, sometime like that,\u201d said Key. \u201cWe\u2019re already speaking all the time, every opportunity we have. He\u2019s speaking with Joe, Marcus (North, the selector), starting to really get into as much as he can, the ins and outs of our setup.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows English cricket really well. He\u2019s been close to it. He\u2019s obviously played in it. He has a huge amount of love and respect for the county game in particular \u2014 what it did for him as a player and part of his development. So as much as he\u2019ll be over in September, he\u2019s already very much in the weeds of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

\n Stephen Fleming enjoyed an 18-year association with Chennai Super Kings (Prakash Singh\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Fleming has spent all of his coaching career so far in franchise white-ball cricket \u2014 mainly with the Chennai Super Kings, with whom he won the Indian Premier League five times \u2014 and is currently at home in New Zealand spending time with his family.<\/p>\n

Key confirmed the incoming head coach will have some \u201cinput\u201d into selection for the Pakistan Tests, and also contributed to the decision to return to Root, who previously captained England from 2017 to 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Key has left the door open for Ben Stokes to return to the England side for next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,417,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-722154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-global-sports","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}