Rob Key has left the door open for Ben Stokes to return to the England side for next year’s Ashes series, with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) managing director for men’s cricket admitting he considered his own position after a tumultuous summer.
Stokes gave up the captaincy and abruptly retired from international cricket 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 as head coach of the England red-ball team.
However, speaking to the media on Friday after playing a key role in the appointment of Stokes’ and McCullum’s successors, Joe Root and Stephen Fleming, Key did not rule out the possibility of Stokes returning to the side in future.
When asked if he had discussed a Stokes comeback with Fleming with one eye on the visit of Australia next summer, Key said: “We haven’t got round to that at the moment, but it would be a great story.”
Asked by Sky Sports if Stokes himself had suggested coming back, Key said: “No, he hasn’t but I wouldn’t be surprised. Anything’s possible with Ben.“
Further pressed on whether bridges had been burned with Stokes, Key added: “No, not at all. Not as far as I’m concerned.”
Rob Key has come under pressure since England’s Ashes debacle over the winter (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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’s series loss to New Zealand which prompted the departures of McCullum and Stokes.
“I think all of the above,” Key said, when asked if he had thought about stepping down, or whether he feared he would be sacked.
“Of course you do (consider your position). This is a job where you’re constantly under pressure all the time. There’s uncertainty in it all the time. That’s part of being in this role. How close I came (to being sacked), I don’t know. How close I came myself (to resigning), what I was thinking, I obviously know.
“But it’s been a good few months — and even before that — where you’re constantly thinking, ‘Are you the right person? What is the thing you’ve got to do? Are you the person to put that in place?’ I believe I am, but that’s for the people above me to decide all the time.”
England confirmed the appointment of Fleming and Root as new Test head coach and captain this week. Key explained that it was “too soon” for Brook, who had been vice-captain under Stokes and leads the England white-ball teams, to take on the Test role too — particularly with a 50-over World Cup to come next year.
He will continue to work under McCullum, who retained his position as white-ball coach.
“Harry’s still developing as a player and as a person,” Key said. “The Test match captaincy is the biggest job in cricket in England. Harry can now continue on the project he’s done in the white-ball job and continue learning how to become an outstanding leader of a cricket team.
“At some stage Harry Brook will be an outstanding Test captain of England cricket. I just didn’t feel the time was right now.”
Harry Brook has forged a strong relationship with the white-ball coach Brendon McCullum (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
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 “narrowed the field considerably” 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.
“(Fleming) will first come over in September, sometime like that,” said Key. “We’re already speaking all the time, every opportunity we have. He’s speaking with Joe, Marcus (North, the selector), starting to really get into as much as he can, the ins and outs of our setup.
“He knows English cricket really well. He’s been close to it. He’s obviously played in it. He has a huge amount of love and respect for the county game in particular — what it did for him as a player and part of his development. So as much as he’ll be over in September, he’s already very much in the weeds of it all.”
Stephen Fleming enjoyed an 18-year association with Chennai Super Kings (Prakash Singh/Getty Images)
Fleming has spent all of his coaching career so far in franchise white-ball cricket — mainly with the Chennai Super Kings, with whom he won the Indian Premier League five times — and is currently at home in New Zealand spending time with his family.
Key confirmed the incoming head coach will have some “input” into selection for the Pakistan Tests, and also contributed to the decision to return to Root, who previously captained England from 2017 to 2022.
