England’s managing director Rob Key has insisted it would be “stupid” not to weigh up Ben Stokes as the next ODI captain, as the side looks to rebound from a dismal Champions Trophy exit in 2025. The 2019 World Cup holders crashed out in the group stage without a win, prompting Jos Buttler’s resignation and leaving Key with a pivotal call to steer the team’s 50-over future.
Stokes, 33, has been a talisman for England, instrumental in securing both white-ball World Cup titles. He last played ODIs at the 2023 World Cup—returning after a brief retirement—only to miss the Champions Trophy due to a hamstring tear sustained during last year’s Test tour of New Zealand.
Key sees Stokes’ leadership as a potential fix: “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?”
“He’s an unbelievably good tactician, which we’ve seen in Test cricket, but he’s a leader of men,” Key continued. “He’s someone who gets the best out of people. He’s someone that, when the pressure is really on, he’s able to throw a blanket around the players and actually say, ‘no, no, this is the way forward. Keep going with it.’ They’re the qualities that you need in leadership. Ben’s, as we know, an outstanding player, an outstanding leader. It’s more about, what would that then mean to him? What would that then mean to his workload? We don’t want to risk other things as well. But there’s always a way in England, I think, where you start looking at, ‘what if it goes wrong?’ You’ve also got to think, ‘what if it goes right?’ They’re the decisions that I have to make.”
Since taking the Test reins in 2022, Stokes has thrived alongside coach Brendon McCullum, transforming England’s red-ball fortunes. McCullum’s white-ball stint, starting in 2024, has faltered—10 losses in 11 limited-overs games—but Key sees a Stokes-McCullum ODI reunion as a shrewd move. “When you start looking at it, I believe that Test cricket and 50-over cricket are probably closer than T20s, which is the outlier now. So then that makes different things,” he said, pointing to India’s model of Test stars anchoring ODIs while T20 specialists dominate the shortest format. “We look at India and the way they play T20 cricket, and they’ve got all these young players coming through, but it’s their Test players that are making the difference in 50-over cricket.”
Key also backed Harry Brook, 26, as a future leader, suggesting Stokes’ mentorship could sharpen him. Brook led England’s white-ball side against Australia in 2024 when Buttler was sidelined, showing promise. “I think Harry Brook would be an outstanding captain actually,” Key said. “I was cautious about Ben Stokes doing it and having too much, and look how that’s gone. I think he [Stokes] might bring out the best in Harry Brook. Being able to go out there and feel like the extra responsibility sometimes, for people, is the best thing that can happen for them. Sometimes it’s not. They’re the decisions you have to work out.”
With England’s ODI side at a crossroads, Key’s weighing Stokes’ proven grit against workload risks—decisions that could redefine the team by the 2027 World Cup.
