June 30, 2026 — 11:30amBen Stokes has insisted he isn’t thinking about a comeback for next year’s Ashes, reckoning he will watch the battle from “a hospitality box”.Following his retirement, England’s Test team looks ready for hospital, being leaderless, rudderless and with captains past and present arguing over the future. Their next attempt to regain the urn is now fewer than 12 months away.Ben Stokes bows out of international cricket after his England team’s Test series loss to New Zealand.Getty ImagesFor his part, Stokes kicked off the post-mortem by arguing that deputy Harry Brook should replace him as captain despite the younger man’s numerous behavioural issues off the field and a succession of harebrained shots on it.“There’s a reason he was asked to be vice captain of this team,” Stokes said. “I know with all the controversy over the last couple of weeks, decisions were made. They were decisions I was not part of making. You are asked to be vice captain for a reason, and I was vice captain under Joe [Root] for a long time. It’s the natural progression; if the captain is not there, you step up.“There is absolutely no reason why Harry shouldn’t be asked to do that. You don’t ask someone to be vice captain if you don’t think he’s got the skills and ability to captain the team. If I was to be asked who I think should do it, I would be throwing my 100 per cent support behind Harry Brook.”At the same time, Stokes gave a less than lukewarm endorsement of coach Brendon McCullum and team director Rob Key, insisting the new captain have a say in how the team’s management looks.“What me, Brendon and Rob have managed to do over four-and-a-half years, I’m not going to lie, it’s been an interesting ride,” Stokes said. “We’ve had incredible highs and some pretty low lows as well. It’s always worked and connected pretty well in terms of what we’ve wanted to achieve. It doesn’t always work out the way you want it to work out.“When me and Brendon first took over, we were very clear in what we wanted to do. That’s going to be no different for who’s next. Both captain and coach need to come together, put their ideas together and believe in what they’re trying to do going forward. Whoever that may be, that’s what needs to happen.”As a commentator, former skipper Mike Atherton declared Bazball dead at the place where it all began once New Zealand had wrapped a momentous 2-1 series victory in Nottingham. Writing in The Times afterwards, Atherton made it clear as day that he did not think Brook was up to the job of captaincy.“Stokes threw his weight fully behind Brook as captain, though it is hard to see why,” Atherton wrote. “Brook ought to have been sacked in the winter after his night out before the final ODI in Wellington and much of what has happened since can be laid at the failure to take stronger action then. Is he really the right man to lead the Test team? Nothing we have seen suggests so, though admittedly alternatives are thin on the ground.Joe Root, Harry Brook, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes on the balcony at Trent Bridge as their team careers towards a comprehensive Test match defeat.Getty Images“Brook’s scatter-brained nine-ball innings on the fourth evening was hardly that of a man ready to step up as captain.”Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, who is not only a former captain but also a member of the same management stable as Stokes, focused his glare upon Key and McCullum, arguing that now was the time for total change.The loss to New Zealand was England’s first at home in a full series since 2012, and first to New Zealand in the UK since 1999. They now sit seventh on the World Test Championship table ahead of only Pakistan and West Indies, having never contended for (or respected) the title.“Enough is enough,” Vaughan wrote in the Telegraph. “Now is the time for a complete clear-out, with the coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key going too.“I can’t cope with watching English cricket be so wasteful any more. As a former captain, I cannot stand by and watch us play like this against a New Zealand team who are down to their bare bones after injury and the retirement of Kane Williamson.”Atherton and Vaughan both recommended the return of Andy Flower as coach, for the Test side at least. McCullum, though, seems hellbent on keeping the job and a lucrative contract that runs to the end of 2027.“The project isn’t finished yet,” he said. “My enthusiasm and my commitment to English cricket has never wavered.”McCullum did admit, however, to an unsuccessful attempt to get Stokes to reconsider his decision. McCullum was also hesitant to endorse Brook as England captain, meaning the job may well return to the old stager Root.Fans show Stokes their appreciation.Getty Images“I had no success whatsoever. You know Ben,” McCullum said. “We have had a lot of conversations recently, so I had an inkling something was maybe coming. But when he grabbed me yesterday at the ground and said ‘Baz, I am done’, I said ‘slow down, don’t make any rash decisions right now.’ He said ‘I am content’. We sat for 10 to 15 seconds in silence, and I said I was a bit sad.”The pageantry that accompanied Stokes’ retirement, soon followed by a blaze of reckless batting that handed the series to New Zealand, was called out by another former skipper, Andrew Strauss.“I’m not convinced that the whole thing was orchestrated the right way,” Strauss wrote on LinkedIn. “It seems like a huge distraction to a team that was battling to avoid a series defeat and the cricket in the last session very much had an ‘end-of-term’ feel to it.“Everyone has the right to bow out on their own terms, and no one has earned that more than Ben, but announcing before or after the game seems like a more sensible approach. When you are in the middle of a match, the only thing that matters is the performance of the team.”Stokes made a lot of England’s role as saviours of Test cricket, even calling them “a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket”. But on the final day at Trent Bridge, the ground was about a third full despite free admission. By the time Stokes spoke as captain for the final time at the post-match presentation, even those few loyalists had all but gone.News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.From our partners