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The England Test captain is currently recovering from hamstring surgery
Published : 06 Mar 2025, 10:30 PM
England Test captain Ben Stokes has to be on a list of possible replacements for Jos Buttler, who resigned last week as limited-overs captain, director of men's cricket Rob Key said on Thursday.
Buttler stepped down as captain of the 50-over and T20 "white ball" teams after England's group stage exit from the ICC Champions Trophy following an eight-run loss to tournament debutants Afghanistan in Lahore, Pakistan.
"Nothing's off the table, really," Key told reporters at Lord's. "You look at every single option and think, 'Right, what is the best thing to do?' 'How is that going to impact on other things?
"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. And if nothing's off the table, that also means potentially a captain who's not been in the squad recently."
Stokes, 33, is currently recovering from hamstring surgery, recently joining an England Lions training camp in Abu Dhabi, and Key said the captaincy decision would take as long as necessary.
"I believe that Test cricket and 50-over cricket are probably closer than T20s, which is the outlier now," he added, indicating a possible split between the ODI and T20 captaincy roles.
"I do think we've got to get the most out of our best players. We want them playing for England, we want them enhancing games of cricket for England.
"That's important and that's going to take some work because you're also throwing franchise cricket into that. But I believe our players are committed to playing for England as much as they can."
Vice-captain Harry Brook as well as Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone have also been mentioned as potential white-ball captains.
England have a busy schedule coming up with 11 Tests, 27 white-ball matches and a T20 World Cup over the next 12 months.
