Former England captain Ben Stokes has said he would absolutely love to coach England one day, and also suggested Brendon McCullum would still be in charge of the Test team had he not announced his own international retirement weeks beforehand. Speaking in a podcast with Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler, the Durham all-rounder said that he will want to coach England in the future. Stokes gave up the England Test captaincy and retired from international cricket following his side’s 2-1 series defeat to New Zealand in June, which followed a 4-1 Ashes loss to Australia over the winter.
Speaking for the first time since his retirement, Stokes said “I want to be a coach. I know what I want to do in terms of staying within the game – which is to be a coach”
“Would I love to be coach of England one day? Absolutely. I would love to be able to do that. Do I think it’s going to happen? I don’t know. No idea. Then, further on from that, I don’t know. I just really like the idea of being, again, in some form of leadership away from playing.”
Stokes was the England captain for four years from 2022, working alongside head coach McCullum as the pair reshaped England’s playing style and it became famous as Bazball.
Ben Stokes reveals his reaction to Brendon McCullum’s departure
McCullum’s exit from his Test role was announced two weeks after Stokes called time on his international playing career during the fourth day of England’s third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. Ben Stokes admitted that he was surprised with that decision. He maintained that there was no rift between him and McCullum. The former England captain said that McCullum would still be the coach had he not announced his retirement.
Stokes said “I was surprised, If I hadn’t made the decision that I made four weeks ago, Baz would still be coach. So it’s my fault!”
On the discussions held between them around their respective exits, Stokes played it down “When I told Baz [about Stokes’ retirement] he was making toast and I just went ‘oh, I’m done’. I’d obviously had discussions with him anyway and then told him over toast. Then, again, he was like ‘yeah, I’ve been given the tap on the shoulder’ and I was like ‘oh’. But he’s still very excited and very happy to be moving forward with the white-ball because he’s doing a very good job there.”
Ben Stokes announced his shocking retirement from international cricket in June during England’s test series against New Zealand, bringing an end to a career that included the 2019 World Cup triumph and his match-winning Ashes innings at Headingley the same year along with the 2022 T20 World Cup.
