Ben Stokes To Become As England's White-Ball Captain? ECB Director Says "Would Be Stupid..."

England Test captain Ben Stokes is in contention to become the country's next limited-overs skipper, replacing Jos Buttler, as ECB director Rob Key feels it would be "stupid" not to consider the talismanic all-rounder, who has proven himself to be an "unbelievably good tactician". Buttler resigned as England's white-ball captain midway into the Champions Trophy where the team failed to log a single win. This was just a few days after the side was hammered by India in a limited-overs away rubber. The 33-year-old Stokes missed the Champions Trophy due to a hamstring injury. He has not played ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, where he reversed his initial decision to retire from the format.

"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," Key, director of men's cricket in the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

"He's an unbelievably good tactician, which we've seen in Test cricket, but he's a leader of men. 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'," Key added in high praise of the impactful but injury-prone pace bowling all-rounder.

Stokes is currently in Abu Dhabi recovering with an England Lions training group and is expected to be fully fit for the summer assignments, which include a five-Test series against India in June-July-August.

Key, who was also in the UAE, believes Stokes has the ability to rejuvenate the ODI team, just as he did with the Test side.

"They're the qualities that you need in leadership.