Andrew McDonald, the Australia head coach, is not ruling out a comeback by the former England captain Ben Stokes for the Ashes 2027, even as Stokes has suggested he’s done with the game at the international level.
The legendary England all-rounder retired from international cricket in June at the end of the home Test series against New Zealand, which England lost by 2-1. Stokes missed the 2nd Test of the series in the aftermath of his involvement in a controversy in a Chelsea nightclub along with fast bowler Gus Atkinson and Saracens academy rugby union player Totoa Auvaa.
It was a sudden retirement from Ben Stokes, who had last year signed a contract with the ECB for two years, running until the end of the 2027 Ashes.
Following the series defeat to the Kiwis, the ECB sacked Brendon McCullum as the Test coach while retaining him in the white-ball formats.
Will Ben Stokes come out of retirement?
Speaking with radio station SEN this week, McDonald, who has been Australia’s coach for the past four years, reckons a ‘fairytale’ out-of-retirement resurgence for Stokes remains a live option for the mercurial England all-rounder ahead of next year’s Ashes on English soil.
“I think the fairytale would be that he comes back out of retirement and takes on one more Ashes and builds a lot of hype on the way in. If you’re looking at promoting that series, that’s probably the angle that you would want, that he comes out of retirement,” Australia’s coach said.
After his retirement Test match, however, Ben Stokes, when pressed about a potential return next year, told Test Match Special, “I’m done, mate. I’ll probably be watching it in a hospitality box somewhere.”
Earlier, Stokes had made a U-turn on his ODI retirement when he walked away from the format in 2022 but featured in the 2023 World Cup.
Following his international retirement, Stokes has been playing List-A cricket for Durham in the One Day Cup, where he has smashed 108* and 73* in consecutive innings.
McDonald reckons Ben Stokes, aged 35, has plenty left in his tank, and a new Test coach perhaps could ride him back to the Test arena.
“To me, he’s still got a lot of good cricket left in him. It’ll be a fascinating watch. I think that whoever the new head coach that comes in potentially has a conversation with him. We don’t know why Ben left, I don’t think there’s been anything on the record around the definitive reason as to why he may have just called it a day on Test cricket and that’s it, so there might be a full stop there. There might be an opportunity for that new head coach to potentially twist his arm and bring him back in,” McDonald opined.
Who is the new England Test coach?
The ECB have not yet finalized their new Test coach. Justin Langer was reported to be the frontrunner to become the England Test coach, but the Australian has quashed the rumors, confirming that he has not had discussions with the ECB yet. It is possible that Marcus Trescothick and Joe Root could be the interim coach and captain for England’s home Test series against Pakistan while the ECB continue their recruiting process.
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