England cricket supremo Rob Key mentioned on Thursday “it could be silly” to rule Check captain Ben Stokes out of consideration for the position of skipper of the struggling white-ball crew.
Jos Buttler stood down final week following a poor show by the facet on the ongoing 50-over Champions Trophy event in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, the place his crew misplaced all three of its group video games.
England has now suffered 10 defeats in 11 white-ball fixtures this 12 months.
Vice-captain Harry Brook had seemed to be the inheritor obvious to Buttler however he’s more likely to be a mainstay in all three worldwide codecs resulting in a formidable workload.
England and Wales Cricket Board managing director for males’s cricket Secret is contemplating his choices, which embrace increasing Stokes’s remit.
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The 33-year-old Durham all-rounder has proved himself an inspirational captain since succeeding Joe Root as Check skipper.
However his age and harm issues imply he has largely operated as a Check specialist for 16 months.
Appointing Stokes as limited-overs captain would imply extending his “Bazball” alliance with Brendon McCullum, now the coach of England’s white-ball groups in addition to being in command of the Check facet.
“I believe nothing’s off the desk actually,” Key informed reporters at Lord’s. “Ben Stokes is without doubt one of the finest captains I’ve ever seen. It could be silly not to take a look at him. It’s simply the knock-on impact of what which means.”
Stokes, at present sidelined with a hamstring harm, has not performed a Twenty20 worldwide because the T20 World Cup ultimate in November 2022, and has not featured in a one-day worldwide because the 2023 50-over World Cup in India.
England gamers ‘do care’
Former England batsman Key acknowledged the facet’s limited-overs kind had declined sharply and its batting had “fallen off a cliff”.
England gained the 50-over World Cup underneath the captaincy of Eoin Morgan in 2019 and triumphed on the T20 World Cup underneath Buttler three years later.
However it has slumped to seventh within the one-day worldwide rankings and is third within the T20 rankings.
“We had been very poor within the Champions Trophy,” mentioned Key. “However the reality is, we haven’t been significantly good in white-ball cricket, most likely because the final period when (retired captain) Eoin Morgan did it.”
England has been criticised for pursuing an ultra-aggressive method underneath McCullum, whatever the match scenario, however Key mentioned the previous New Zealand captain’s teaching strategies had been extra nuanced.
“It’s not true that the one factor he (McCullum) says is go tougher, go tougher, go tougher,” mentioned Key. “He speaks on a regular basis about absorbing stress as nicely.
“And also you’ve bought to belief that gamers could make these selections on the proper time.”
Key additionally warned towards assuming England gamers don’t care after they fail.
“Typically they’re reckless, generally they make the improper resolution on the improper time,” he mentioned. “However that’s the sport, proper?
“However it’s not a case that each one we expect is you go on the market and play a method… You’ve bought to have the ability to put bowlers underneath stress, and good bowlers underneath stress, and also you’ve bought to have the ability to soak it up and also you’ve bought to have the ability to make that call on the proper time.”