{"id":1740,"date":"2026-08-01T05:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1740"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:20:02","slug":"rob-key-would-not-be-surprised-if-ben-stokes-returned-to-england-test-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1740","title":{"rendered":"Rob Key would \u2018not be surprised\u2019 if Ben Stokes returned to England Test team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rob Key has no doubt Stephen Fleming is the right man to revive England<\/a>\u2019s Test team and declared he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if Ben Stokes<\/a> was tempted out of retirement to play a role.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As managing director of men\u2019s cricket<\/a> at the England and Wales Cricket Board, Key is attempting to pick up the pieces of a turbulent summer that has seen former skipper Stokes walk away from international duty and Brendon McCullum<\/a> axed as red-ball coach.<\/p>\n

Key\u2019s own position has come under heavy scrutiny but, having retained his job, he has identified former New Zealand captain Fleming and returning captain Joe Root as the partnership to bring stability and success back to a side that had clearly lost its way.<\/p>\n

McCullum remains an important part of the picture at the helm of the white-ball team and plenty still believe Stokes could re-enter the fray in time for next year\u2019s Ashes<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n

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NEW MAN: Stephen Fleming will take over as Test coach later this year.
PICTURE: Nick Potts\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Great story<\/h2>\n

Speaking at Lord\u2019s to launch his latest vision for England, Key would not rule out a headline-grabbing return for the Durham<\/a> all-rounder.<\/p>\n

Asked if Fleming had raised the idea, he said: \u201cWe haven\u2019t got round to that at the moment, but it would be a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed by Sky Sports on whether Stokes himself had given any indication, a smiling Key added: \u201cNo, he hasn\u2019t but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. Anything\u2019s possible with Ben.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo (bridges have been burned)\u2026 not at all. Not as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RETURN ON THE CARDS?: Rob Key (left) believes Ben Stokes could return to the England Test team.
PICTURE: David Davies\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Lack of preparation?<\/h2>\n

Fleming, 53, was a highly respected tactician and man manager during his long stint as New Zealand captain \u2013 during which time he forged a strong bond with McCullum.<\/p>\n

That relationship could serve the ECB<\/a> well as they attempt to avoid the tensions that have marred previous attempts to install a split coaching regime \u2013 with Andy Flower and Ashley Giles<\/a> failing to gel and Matthew Mott playing second fiddle to McCullum when they attempted a job share.<\/p>\n

There has, though, been consternation about Fleming not taking charge of the forthcoming series against Pakistan. <\/p>\n

Having just concluded a long stint in charge of Chennai Super Kings he will take a break before arriving in the country in September, leaving him seven Tests and no home series before the Ashes.<\/p>\n

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WHITE BALL DUTY: Brendon McCullum will continue to lead the limited-overs teams.
PICTURE: Gary Oakley\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Best person<\/h2>\n

Key was bullish on that, insisting: \u201cMy job is to get the best person. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a stipulation for any of the candidates that you had to be there for Pakistan. Had that been the case, that would have limited the field drastically.<\/p>\n

\u201cA month ago this was probably not on a lot of people\u2019s radar \u2013 certainly myself and Stephen Fleming, as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn life, you have a lot of things that you have to do, that you can\u2019t do, that have been planned a long way in advance, that are really important for him as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that wasn\u2019t a stipulation that you had to be in there, as I said, that would have narrowed the field considerably if it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Stephen and Joe, I think we\u2019ve got the two best people to take what is a side with a huge amount of potential. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as optimistic as ever that we\u2019ve got the best people to take English cricket forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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HE\u2019S BACK: Joe Root returns for a second spell as England captain.
PICTURE: Ben Whitley\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Homegrown over overseas?<\/h2>\n

Four of England\u2019s last six Test coaches have been imported from overseas, Fleming following in the footsteps of McCullum, Trevor Bayliss and Andy Flower, in what appears an indictment over the domestic production line.<\/p>\n

Key accepted there had been slow progress on that score but indicated new opportunities for homegrown candidates to join the setup could be imminent, with Glamorgan<\/a>\u2019s Richard Dawson a leading contender.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not happened quick enough, but that\u2019s a massive part of what we\u2019re going to try and do going forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the first things Stephen spoke about was that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a duty as well to bring coaches through, to upskill and to give them experiences. It\u2019s a problem we\u2019re all trying to solve, it\u2019s just not a quick fix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go for jobs like this\u2026the remit is you get the best person possible and in my opinion, that\u2019s Stephen Fleming. <\/p>\n

\u201cNext time you don\u2019t want someone to go, \u2018Well, I have to appoint an English coach\u2019. What you want is the English coaches to be top of that list.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/em><\/strong> Stephen Fleming named new England Test head coach as Joe Root returns as captain<\/a><\/p>\n

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Rob Key has no doubt Stephen Fleming is the right man to revive England\u2019s Test team and declared he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if Ben Stokes was tempted out of retirement to play a role. As managing director of men\u2019s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, Key is attempting to pick up the pieces…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thecricketpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ben-Stokes-Rob-Key-England-1000x600.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1566,156,345,3333,200,1567,3332,437,389],"class_list":["post-1740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ben","tag-england","tag-key","tag-returned","tag-rob","tag-stokes","tag-surprised","tag-team","tag-test"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}