Former England captain Ben Stokes has ruled out any possibility of making a retirement U-turn and returning to the England team for the next year's Ashes. However, Stokes has expressed his desire to coach the England team in the future. Ben Stokes, who retired from international cricket in June, also questioned the appointment of Joe Root as England’s Test captain despite Harry Brook being the ideal successor. 

“I'm doing my level three coaching now while I'm still playing, because I want, when the day comes that I'm not playing any more, I'd love to be able to have all that stuff signed off and done. I know what I want to do in terms of staying within the game, which is to be a coach. And would I love to be coach of England one day? Absolutely. I just really like the idea of being, again, like, in some form of leadership away from playing,” Stokes said on 'For the Love of Cricket podcast'.

Last week, England confirmed the appointment of Joe Root as the new captain of the Test side. And he will begin his second spell as England captain when he leads the team into the three-match series against Pakistan, starting on August 19.

“I think just if you think someone's going to be a good captain or a good leader, then just give them it. I understood the reasoning, but I was still like, well, what message is that sending to him? He's vice-captain. And then the captain is not playing, but he's not captain. What?” Stokes said. 

Stokes, meanwhile, backed Joe Root to succeed as the captain of the England team. Notably, Root previously led England from 2017 to 2022.

"He's just always put the team first - he always comes second. And that's just my only concern with it: just obviously knowing what he went through last time he was in charge of the team. I don't want to see that ever happen again because I care for Joe a lot, but I wish him all the success in the world. I am sure he is going to do great," Stokes said.