Leaderless, rudderless and squabbling, life after Stokes looks bleak for England

June 30, 2026 — 11:30am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

England were bowled out for 212 by New Zealand on day five of the Trent Bridge Test, losing the match by 160 runs.

The result came the day after captain Ben Stokes abruptly announced his retirement from international cricket.

It meant the Kiwis won the three-match series 2-1; their first series win in England since 1999.

Ben 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.

For 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........

© The Sydney Morning Herald