ECB director Rob Key has been disappointed with England's recent performance in the Champions Trophy where they couldn't able to a single match. England had found themselves back to the conceptual era before 2015 despite having talented players in their squad. It was the man Eion Morgan and his co-supporter Ben Stokes who just reshaped England cricket after an early exit from the 2015 ODI World Cup.

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Morgan inspired us that we are still playing old-fashioned cricket where it has developed a lot, we have to change our thinking and be more aggressive. And they just revamped their brand of cricket which suited and helped them too. That resulted in them winning their first ODI World Cup title in 2019. But after that when their former players retired everything changed drastically. 

Rob Key Highlighting About Key Member

Key has highlighted that bringing back Ben Stokes will be an ideal solution for this and can be named as Captain for the team who can groom these players with his experience. He brings that quality and value to the team. The team needs some inspiration. After a poor outing in the Champions Trophy, their captain Jos Butler has resigned from captaincy. He tented and thanked the management for the opportunity. Now after him, there are several names aroused but Key is more worried about the quality because captaincy comes with added pressure. 

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Stokes is considered an inspiration in England who played a major role in the triumph of two world titles. Players like Stokes are generational, Stokes left limited-overs cricket after the 2023 World Cup.  Though he hinted at revoking back the retirement and being available in the Champions Trophy a sudden Hamstring injury during the New Zealand test series had penetrated him to do so. Stokes after his limited overs retirement has fully focused on test format. 

Mccllum And Stokes Partnership In Need For Odi

Former New Zealand player and explosive batsman Brenden McCullum was appointed as England test team coach and the combination of Bazzball has been surreal which revamped the English test cricket too. This was tried in the ODI too after a successful test regime Mccllum was handed over the ODI coaching, here it was a bit different for him and he wasn't able to produce the desired results despite having world-class players. 

11 out of 10 matches Mccllum has lost which includes the recent India series. It's been an idea to bring back Ben to calm the guys and to show them the path how it has to handle the pressure in most difficult times. 

Ben Stokes, who last played an ODI in England's underwhelming 2023 World Cup bid, is still a top contender for the white-ball captaincy and Managing Director Rob Key commended Stokes' leadership, adding, "Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I've ever seen, so it'd be stupid not to look at him." Yet he conceded that Stokes had problems juggling Test and ODI captaincy.

England are also mulling over having different captains for the ODI and T20I sides. Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, and Harry Brook are the ones who have been touted as possible candidates. Key stressed the need to make the right choice instead of a hasty one. "We're searching for the best individual who can drive this forward," he said.

A Wake-Up Call for England

England's premature exit from the Champions Trophy laid bare critical problems in the squad. Heavy losses against Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa hinted at defects in team balance and selection. England had opted for an all-pacing approach to subcontinental surfaces, which paid disastrous dividends. Brydon Carse and Mark Wood's injuries reduced the squad further. Adil Rashid was the lone specialist spinner from the start, and Rehan Ahmed was introduced later as an alternative.

ECB Director confirms England not ruling out the option to appoint Ben Stokes as the ODI captain. pic.twitter.com/TDTezdNzNJ

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 6, 2025

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Looking back at the team's travails, Key conceded, "We were very poor. We haven't been particularly good in white-ball cricket since Eoin Morgan's time. The batting, in particular, has fallen off a cliff."

Addressing the Decline

England's white-ball woes had been evident well before the Champions Trophy, with heavy losses in India in ODIs and T20Is. It was reported that only Joe Root trained in the nets during the ODI series, but Key refuted these reports. "That story wasn't true," he explained. "I saw the team in Pakistan, and they practiced hard. It wasn't a lack of preparation that caused poor performances."

With England seeking to rebuild, the choice for their new white-ball captain either Stokes or someone new will be important in deciding the direction of the team

England Test captain Ben Stokes recently shared an update on his recovery journey after suffering a torn left hamstring. The injury occurred during England’s final match in New Zealand in 2024, forcing him to leave the game mid-over. Following a detailed medical scan, it was confirmed that Stokes would need at least three months to fully recover.

Stokes took to Instagram to inform his fans about the surgery. In his post, he shared a picture of himself resting in the backseat of a car, his leg in a brace and cushioned with pillows. Alongside the image, he humorously referred to himself as the “Bionic Man.” He wrote, “Surgery done. In a bit…” reassuring fans that he is on the road to recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ben Stokes (@stokesy)

The injury has ruled him out of England’s squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy. With no Test matches scheduled until May, Stokes has a clear window to focus entirely on his rehabilitation. He remains optimistic about returning stronger and regaining his peak performance.

Speaking about the injury, Stokes expressed his determination. "Every time you step on the field, there’s a chance of injury. You can’t hold back because of fear," he told BBC Sport. He added, “It’s disappointing, but I always come back stronger from setbacks. I’ll be working hard to return to the level I was at before.”

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England is set to play a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May, followed by a five-match series against India starting in June. This timeline gives Stokes sufficient time to prepare for his comeback.

Stokes' injury resurfaced during the final Test in Hamilton, New Zealand, when he experienced a recurrence of the hamstring issue. The demands of his role as an all-rounder have taken a toll, but Stokes remains committed to pushing through challenges.

As England looks ahead to the busy cricket season, the team will undoubtedly miss their captain in tournaments like the Champions Trophy 2025.

England all-rounder and Test skipper Ben Stokes is all set to stay away from action for the next three months due to a recurring hamstring injury that resurfaced during the New Zealand series. Stokes reportedly faced discomfort during the third and final Test of the three-match series that was won handsomely by New Zealand by a whopping margin of 423 runs. After bowling a bounce during the 56th over of New Zealand's second innings, Stokes immediately felt the back of his left thigh and was forced to limp his way off the field.

However, the English captain has vowed to come back strong and expressed his strong desire to contribute to his national side's cause with "blood, sweat and tears" as described by him.

Something else to overcome…go on then!!!!!!!!

I’ve got so much more left in this tank and so much more blood sweat and tears to go through for my team and this shirt.
There’s a reason I have a Phoenix permanently inked on my body

See you on the field to fuck some shit up

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) December 23, 2024

See also:

A look at Stokes' ongoing challenges with hamstring problem

This is not the first time that a hamstring injury has caused him to be out of action. Earlier this year in the month of August, the 33-year-old ruptured his hamstring while batting for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals in the men's Hundred. He was ruled out for two months after sustaining that injury in the Hundred. 

But it did not take the start all-rounder to run into the same injury once again as a recent scan on Monday revealed by the ECB confirmed the recurrence of the tear during the New Zealand Test series. The ECB recognizes the extent of Stokes' injury and therefore arrived at a decision to exclude him from the 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy in February. 

What's next for Ben Stokes?

With so much cricket around the corner, Stokes will be forced to wait along the sidelines. The star all-rounder has yet to feature for England in the ODI format since the 2023 ODI World Cup. He will be expected to remain unavailable for the marquee Champions Trophy event in Pakistan, a tournament where Stokes' presence would have benefited the team most. 

Moreover, he will now be compelled to concede a hefty £800,000 deal with MI Cape Town in the SA20. But Stokes is likely to return to full fitness before England's next Test match against Zimbabwe at home in May 2025. 

Hosts New Zealand suffered a record margin Test defeat against England at Wellington, which ended England’s 16-year-long wait for a Test series win in New Zealand. This crucial Test series defeat also hurt New Zealand’s qualification hope for the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship final. 

Joe Root scored 36th Test century

Day three of the Wellington Test started with England’s second innings total of 378/5. Former English Test captain Joe Root climbed to the joint fifth position of most Test centuries with the legendary Indian batter Rahul Dravid by hitting his 36th Test century. 

Root and captain Ben Stokes had a 100-run partnership for the sixth wicket. After Root was gone for 106 runs in 130 balls (11 fours), Stokes declared the innings at 49 not out when England scored 427/6.

See Also: Australia bounce back in the series with 10-wicket win

England set 583-run target 

Hosts New Zealand had to chase the mammoth 583-run target in the fourth innings to win the Test and level the series. The Blackcaps lost their first four wickets for only 59 runs, as the opener Devon Conway (0), Kane Williamson (4), and Rachin Ravindra (6) were dismissed for single digits, while the other opener and skipper Tom Latham was out for 24 runs. 

Tom Blundell scored century

While Daryl Mitchell (32) and Nathan Smith (42) provided some fights, wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell hit his fifth Test century. New Zealand were all out for 259 runs, where Blundell scored 115 off 102 balls with 13 fours and five sixes. 

English captain Ben Stokes bagged three wickets in 2.2 overs after conceding only five runs. Chris Woakes (2/20), Brydon Carse (2/53), and Shoaib Bashir (2/110) got two wickets each. Gus Atkinson, who took four wickets during New Zealand’s first innings (4/31), including a hat-trick, picked up one wicket in the fourth innings (1/68).  

New Zealand suffered their largest home Test defeat

England won the Test by 323 runs. It was New Zealand’s largest home Test defeat by runs. Their previous record was losing by 299 runs against Pakistan in the 2001 Auckland Test. Meanwhile, it was the Blackcaps’ third-largest Test defeat by runs, just behind the 372-run defeat against the hosts India (2021 Wankhede Test) and the 358-run defeat against the hosts South Africa (2007 Johannesburg Test). 

England won the Test series in New Zealand after 16 years

As England are leading the three-match Test series by 2-0 with one to go, they have already secured the away Test series. Previously, England won a Test series in New Zealand in 2008 (by 2-1). While their 2013 tour ended in a draw, hosts New Zealand won the next two series in 2018 and 2019. Before the ongoing Test series, England previously toured New Zealand in 2023, which ended in a draw. Finally, England won a Test series in New Zealand after 16 years. 

Following the conclusion of the first Test between England and New Zealand, both teams were docked three WTC points and 15% of their match fees for maintaining slow over rates during the Hagley Oval test. 

England captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes was left confused after his side incurred a loss of WTC points despite finishing the game 10 hours earlier than the scheduled cessation time. 

See also: New Zealand receive another huge blow in WTC points table

So what's all the fuss about? 

Prior to the build-up to the first Test, Stokes claimed that he was overly confused by the whole idea of WTC and labeled it as "utterly confusing". Furthermore, the marquee all-rounder also added that he never gave the notion of the WTC enough consideration. 

England finished fourth in the earlier edition of the WTC cycle and are currently ranked sixth in the ongoing WTC edition meaning that they will miss their spot for the finals a second straight time. 

Stokes took to his Instagram handle to respond to the sanctions from the ICC. Writing on his Instagram story, Stokes took a humorous swipe at them by stating the following:

"Good on you ICC. Finished the game with 10 hours of play still left."

After losing 19 of the 28 points they earned during the 2023 Ashes series, England has now been punished 22 WTC points in the 2023–25 cycle for their slow over-rates. In the aftermath of the first Test, both teams were found guilty of being behind by three overs even after taking time allowances into consideration. 

Where do the two teams stand now in the 2023-25 WTC points table?

The implementation of slow over-rate penalties has done more harm than good to New Zealand who were coming off after registering a famous test series sweep against India. The defeat has now tarnished their WTC aspirations as the Black Caps slipped from fourth to fifth position in the points table and can only move as high as 55.36% with wins from their remaining two fixtures in the series.

England on the other hand, are all but out of the WTC Final race but have bettered their standing slightly by moving to the sixth position. 

The mega auction dates for the IPL 2025 were announced on Tuesday. The registered players’ names were also reported on the same night. A popular international all-rounder will miss the IPL 2025.

While October 31 was the retention deadline for all teams, the IPL 2025 mega auction will be organised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25. There are 204 slots available for the mega auction. 

A total of 1574 players, including 1165 Indians and 409 overseas players, have registered for the upcoming mega auction. However, before the mega auction, the long list will be shrunk after receiving the inputs from the franchises. 

Meanwhile, ESPNcricinfo has also brought an important update about the names of the top registered players for the mega auction.   

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Ben Stokes likely to miss IPL 2025

According to ESPNcricinfo reports, the English all-rounder Ben Stokes, who last played IPL in 2023, isn’t on the list of the registered players’ names for the upcoming mega auction. 

Stokes was the most valuable player in the IPL 2017, which was his first IPL season. However, he has hardly played IPL since 2021. While he played only one match for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2021 before suffering a finger injury, he missed out on the IPL 2022 season because he wanted to focus on Test cricket. 

After Chennai Super Kings bought Stokes for INR 16.25 crore for the IPL 2023, he played only two matches that season as the knee injury and later international duty forced him to remain unavailable for the IPL team. 

Like the auction for the IPL 2024, Stokes is reportedly not present for the IPL 2025 mega auction. It also means that the all-rounder will miss the subsequent mini-auctions.

Will James Anderson make his IPL debut?

While the upcoming mega auction will see many great international players, former England pacer James Anderson is also a surprising name on the list. While Anderson last played a T20 match in 2014, he has never experienced the IPL. According to an ESPNcricinfo report, Anderson has a base price of INR 1.25 crore.

Indian players in the highest base price

Talking about the highest base price for the upcoming mega auction, many Indian cricketers are in the INR 2 crore base price list. Injured Mohammed Shami, who hasn’t played a cricket match since the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia in November 2023, including missing out on the IPL 2024, is also standing in the highest base price list.  

The other Indian players’ names in the INR 2 crore base price list for the upcoming mega auctions are Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj,  Umesh Yadav, etc.

On Thursday, October 17, the home of England Test captain Ben Stokes was burgled by masked robbers in the Castle Eden area of North East England. The veteran England all-rounder also shared via X that the robbers escaped with jewellery, valuables, and many personal items as well, which are now irreplaceable for his family. Although his family members were not physically harmed, Stokes shared that the burglars entered the house and robbed while his wife and two young children were inside the house. He also expressed deep concern about the psychological impact of the incident, stating, "All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been.”

In an emotional appeal, the England captain shared photographs of some of the stolen items in the hope that they could be identified as well. However, Stokes shared that recovering the items is secondary as the primary thing is to catch those robbers who did this. Despite the horrific experience, Ben Stokes thanked the police for their ongoing support, both now and during his time away in Pakistan as well.

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Ben Stokes appeals for the help

"On the evening of Thursday 17th October a number of masked people burgled my home in the Castle Eden area in the North East. They escaped with jewellery, other valuables and a good deal of personal items. Many of those items have real sentimental value for me and my family. They are irreplaceable. This is an appeal for any help in finding these people who carried out this act. By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and 2 young children were in the house. Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm. Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state," Stokes wrote on X.

"All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been. I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items - which I hope may be easily identified - in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this. Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this. Please come forward and contact Durham Constabulary on 101 quoting crime reference CRI00575927 if you think that you have any relevant information. Finally, I want to say thank you to the police service. Both now and whilst I was away in Pakistan, their support for my family has been outstanding. They continue to work incredibly hard in trying to find these people. basis this, giveme a an article with headline-Theft at Ben Stokes home: England captain appeals for finding robbers." he added.

pic.twitter.com/Rb1mAk8Jrh

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) October 30, 2024

pic.twitter.com/1nEmNcrnjQ

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) October 30, 2024

England lost the Test series against Pakistan

As far as the game is concerned, Pakistan registered a Test series win on home soil after beating Ben Stokes-led England 2-1 in the two-match Test series. For England, they lost the plot completely after being asked to play on spin-friendly tracks as well. 

Captain Ben Stokes is set to make his much-anticipated return to the England cricket team for the second Test against Pakistan, starting Tuesday in Multan. After recovering from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the previous matches, Stokes aims to lead his side to another victory following their impressive win in the first Test.

Stokes back in action

Ben Stokes has been declared fit to play after successfully bowling in the nets, signalling his readiness to take on the role of a third seamer. The all-rounder acknowledges the importance of being sensible with his bowling workload but expresses confidence in making an impactful return to the field.

England's strong line-up

Joining Stokes in the team is Durham seamer Matthew Potts, making his comeback since the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka at the end of August. Meanwhile, seamers Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes have been rested to maintain their fitness for future matches. England's impressive performance in the first Test saw them secure a resounding innings victory, led by remarkable individual performances from Harry Brook and Joe Root.

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Captain Stokes' return is a significant boost for the England squad, which has already shown its mettle by winning the first Test by an innings and 47 runs. Stokes spoke candidly about his recovery journey, noting that he initially considered playing solely as a batsman. However, he ultimately felt ready to contribute with the ball as well, stating, "Those were the sort of thoughts that went through my head at home before we came out."

In the first Test, England's remarkable batting display was led by Harry Brook, who scored a stunning 317, and Joe Root, who added 262 runs. This performance was historic, as Pakistan became the first team in Test cricket's 147-year history to lose by an innings after scoring over 550 runs in their first innings. As the second Test approaches, the focus is on whether Stokes can make a significant impact in leading his team to another victory in Multan.