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Ashes rival Andrew McDonald believes the Ben Stokes chapter not closed just yet, hopes for ‘fairytale’ return
Australia coach Andrew McDonald hopes the England allrounder comes out of retirement for the home Ashes next year.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald is certain that international cricket has not heard the last from the recently retired Ben Stokes. McDonald, whose side will travel to England next year for the Ashes, believes the Stokes story is not over just yet. The all-rounder, winner of the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup, announced his international retirement last month in the middle of the third and final Test against New Zealand. A bar brawl controversy after England’s win in the first Test had a huge bearing on Stokes’ retirement decision a few weeks later. After missing the second Test on account of the controversy, he returned for the third and final Test, but on the fourth day, he stunned the cricketing world with his decision. It was a bolt out of the blue, to all intents and purposes.
"I think the fairytale would be that he comes back out of retirement and takes on one more Ashes and builds a lot of hype on the way in," Australia's coach told radio station SEN.
"If you're looking at promoting that series, that's probably the angle that you would want, that he comes out of retirement.
"To me, he's still got a lot of good cricket left in him. It'll be a fascinating watch. I think that whoever the new head coach that comes in potentially has a conversation with him.
"We don't know why Ben left. I don't think there's been anything on the record around the definitive reason as to why. He may have just called it a day on Test cricket, and that's it, so there might be a full stop there,” he added.
The Root-Trescothick combo?
England look to find a new captain as well as the Test coach after the departure of Stokes and New Zealander Brendon McCullum. Joe Root and former England opener Marcus Trescothick (on an interim basis, though) have been tipped to take over those two roles. "Or there might be an opportunity for that new head coach to potentially twist his arm and bring him back in.
"But if it ends now, he's had a wonderful career in terms of what he's brought to the game, his impact in certain innings and moments in time. It will age pretty well for him to look back on," McDonald, whose side thumped England 4-1 earlier this year in the Ashes, said.
McDonald demands larger squads for the 2027 World Cup
Next year, it's going to be a bigger World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with as many as 14 teams in the fray and 57 matches in all to be played in pretty much the same time span as the 10-team 2023 World Cup. In light of all that, the Aussie wants a bigger squad for the event.
"One of the big things from my perspective is if it's going to be your pinnacle event, what do your squad sizes look like?" McDonald said.
"We had the dilemma of what it looked like having a 15-player squad for the last World Cup, and I think New Zealand were in the same boat where we had a couple of injuries, Travis Head being the most notable one, and I think Kane Williamson and a couple of others for New Zealand, where you end up with sort of 12-13 players to select from early on in your tournament, and you're trying to carry those other players through the early rounds, and you're not able to play potentially the way that you want to play, or structure up the way that you think you need to, and in particular in countries where you in the north or the south or the east or the west, the conditions change quite significantly," he added.
