Fleming Rules Out Stokes' Ashes Comeback

Any lingering hope of Ben Stokes riding in for one last Ashes summer is fading fast.

Stephen Fleming, England’s new red-ball head coach, has made it clear he will not try to talk the former captain out of his Test retirement, describing it as “wrong” to push him towards a U-turn.

Stokes walked away from international cricket earlier this year, ending four turbulent, compelling years in charge of England’s Test side. He did not disappear, though. He went back to Durham, rolled up his sleeves and helped drive his county to the Division Two title, sending down long spells and chipping in with the bat.

He has also committed to a Big Bash League stint with Adelaide Strikers, a move that only fuelled the romantic notion that he might yet be tempted back for one last crack at Australia next summer. Even Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, admitted it would be a “great story” and refused to close the door entirely.

The story, though, is not Fleming’s to write.

“I went up to Durham and spoke to Ben, which was good. He's really happy and seemed to be really at peace with his decision,” Fleming said, drawing on a long-standing relationship from their time together at Chennai Super Kings.

“I've worked with Ben quite a bit. We've got a really good relationship. He was in a good space. He'd just bowled another 20 overs for Durham with success.

“He seems really happy and comfortable with what he's doing. My view is when a player decides to retire it's a big decision and I have the utmost respect for that decision so that's where it sits.”

Those are not the words of a coach about to mount a charm offensive.

Speaking later to BBC Sport’s Test Match Special, Fleming doubled down, making it plain he will not become the man who tries to drag Stokes back into the Ashes storm.

“I respect his decision too much,” he said. “To try to turn that around and question that is wrong. I know how much goes into that type of decision, and I respect that.”

The message is blunt. Stokes’ body has been through the wringer, his mind too, and Fleming is not about to trample over the line the all-rounder has drawn for himself. The clamour may continue in pubs, on phone-ins and across social media, but inside the England dressing room the new coach is treating the retirement as final.

That does not mean he is blind to the pull of the Ashes. Quite the opposite. An English fixation he readily shares.

“I have an obsession with it as well. New Zealand has obsession with it, we love it,” he said. “We have a deep desire to beat Australia in everything, as the little cousin. We are linked, and I'm incredibly excited about being part of it.”

There it is: the competitive edge that will have appealed to England’s hierarchy when they turned to the former New Zealand captain. A man raised in a cricket culture that measures itself against Australia now finds himself in charge of a team that does the same, only louder.

For now, though, he plans to chase the urn without the man who defined the last two Ashes epics at Headingley and Lord’s. The fantasy of one last Stokes rescue act will linger in the stands, but Fleming has drawn his line. England, he is saying, must learn to win the biggest series of all without their great modern talisman.