Retired England pace bowler Stuart Broad has strongly warned against appointing Ben Stokes as ODI captain of the England team. However, Jos Buttler stepped down from his white-ball roles after their Champions Trophy 2025 debacle as well. Broad also said that he will be lost for words if the ECB did it as the all-rounder’s injury woes could aggravate as well.

While reviewing England’s Champions Trophy performance, the veteran told The Daily Mail, “Going for Stokes would be a move of desperation. I would be lost for words if England appointed him. Firstly, there is the schedule. He’s not going to the Indian Premier League to try to prioritise the Test match team and get his physicality right for the big events on the horizon. How many overs has Stokes bowled successfully in the last three years while battling his knee injuries? Not many. And you’re going to add another eight to 10 overs in a 50-over format onto his workload?”

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“The mathematics of that make no sense. As someone who played 121 one-day internationals I can honestly say I found the 50-over format more tiring than Test match cricket,” he again stated.

With India set to play a five-match Test series in England, Broad said that it could be the best preparation for the Ashes series and also expects Jofra Archer to return to red-ball cricket as well.

“Personally, I would like the idea of playing a tough five-match series against India before the Ashes, but we know it will be physically challenging. What you don’t want to happen is get to September and suddenly Stokes’s knee’s blown, Jofra Archer’s back has gone, or his elbow, and Mark Wood is out because the physicality of the cricket has been so strong. Yes, you want the players be battle-hardened, but I’d expect the bowlers to be managed well. So against India, you need to reintroduce Archer,” Stuart Broad concluded.