Who will lead England after Ben Stokes?

Who will lead England after Ben Stokes?

England suffered a pricked loss against Sri Lanka in their recent test match at their home that sparked the fire of questions around Ollie Pope’s selection as England’s captain.  

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan shared his thoughts on potential England’s captain, and he stated that Ollie Pope is not that person, and he don’t like him as England’s captain during BBC’s Test Match Special podcast.  

England’s regular red-ball skipper Ben Stokes was unfit to play in Sri Lanka series, and the ECB appointed Ollie Pope as the stand-in captain. The home side won two games under his captaincy but lost the final one. He also failed to score decent runs under pressure though.  

Ben Stokes, on the other hand, has remained a solid skipper for England. He performed well, both as captain and as a batter. Stokes delivered 13 wins in 19 games and faced defeat in five as captain before the India series.  

The setback tour for the Ben Stokes side was their tour to India in 2024. They started the series on a high with a win in the first test, but they failed to capitalize on that and lost the next four matches.  

That tour not only broke England’s confidence but also dented Ben Stokes stats as test captain. However, both bounced back after tasted success in 3-match home series vs West Indies in July with 3-0 margin. 

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Ollie Pope to succeed Ben Stokes as England’s test captain?    

No, according to cricket experts, Ollie Pope is a quality batter, but Harry Brook is more of suitable for captaincy. Pope only plays test cricket for England. While Brook features in all three formats for the country.  

Harry Brook was recently appointed England’s skipper for the ODI series against Australia in the absence of regular white-ball captain Jos Buttler. Brook, as a three-format player, is potentially the finest option as England’s next multi-format captain at the moment.  

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England’s WTC 2025 chances 

Both the WTC Finals were staged in England. Unfortunately, the English side failed to reach the finale on both the occasion.  

Interestingly the third and the next WTC Final will also take place in England at the home of cricket, Lord’s cricket ground. Despite playing the most matches in WTC 2023-25 cycle, the English side is still in sixth spot on the WTC standings, and their road to the finale will not be easy this time either.