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Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, has blasted the prospect of all-rounder Ben Stokes becoming the leader of England’s white-ball teams after Jos Buttler relinquished the posts in the aftermath of the poor showing in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 a few weeks ago. It is understood that Ben Stokes is currently being considered to captain at least one of the limited-overs teams of England, but there is no final decision made in this regard.
It was the report from the Telegraph, which suggested that there is a high chance of Harry Brook becoming the new T20I captain of England, which would leave the ODI captaincy up for grabs for either him or Ben Stokes. But, with the fitness issues surrounding England’s Test skipper being quite persistent, including his recent hamstring injury, which is now surgically repaired, it probably won’t be a prudent call for the team management to bring him back to white-ball cricket.
It's absolute nonsense to think that Ben Stokes is going to play white-ball cricket: Michael Vaughan
The last time Ben Stokes played limited-overs matches was during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India, and since then, he has been focused on taking England’s Test team to greater heights as captain. Amidst all of this, Michael Vaughan called out the England team management, and said, as per BBC Sport, “It's absolute nonsense to think that Ben Stokes is going to play white-ball cricket. He gives absolutely everything, not just when he's playing for England but when he's training. He is all or nothing.”
“In a way, I think it's quite selfish to even consider him, because he will say yes, because he is Ben Stokes. He will do whatever England ask him to do. Just don't ask him, just let him be,” the former England captain added. Although, if the England team management does make the call to bring Ben Stokes back playing limited-overs cricket as captain in at least one format, then his workload is definitely expected to increase.
It will definitely be the case since England are slated to play two of their toughest five-match Test series in the next few months, at home against India this summer before travelling to Australia in the upcoming winter for Ashes.
