Ben Stokes expected an argument on inclusion of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in England setup, says Rob Key

Newswire

Rob Key says Ben Stokes was “prepared for an argument” when the pair discussed the topic of Stuart Broad and James Anderson returning to the England fold.

Stokes succeeded Joe Root as Test captain last month after Root stepped down in the wake of a series defeat to the West Indies – a series Broad and Anderson did not take part in.

When Stokes met with Key, England’s new managing director of men’s cricket, the all-rounder was adamant that he wanted England’s premier bowlers – who have 1,177 wickets Test wickets between them – back in the fold.

Key, speaking with Nasser Hussain in an hour-long special, said: “He was sort of prepared for an argument when we spoke about it. He was like ‘Right, Jimmy and Broady are coming back’. I just went, yeah no that’s fine’. And then we sort of moved on.”

Key says he could understand why Broad and Anderson were left out of the squad for the West Indies tour, even if he disagreed with the decision at the time.

“I don’t look at everything as just black or white, I always look at the reason,” Key said.

“I always thought this as a pundit; if there’s logic behind what they’re doing to some degree, then fine, I can understand why people are doing it.

“There was no logic to me when England in the World Cup in 2015, dropped Alastair Cook and then brought in Gary Balance. There’s no part of me that can understand why you would do that.

“But there’s part of me that can understand with Broad and Anderson away from home, getting on a bit as well when you wanted to try and find out about other people.

“I can understand that. Doesn’t mean that I would have done it – but I’ve shown now that they’ve come back.”

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Root succeeded Sir Alastair Cook as Test captain in 2017, and last month ended his tenure with the most matches (64) and wins (27) in the job.

Key says the 31-year-old, who was named as Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world last month, led the side at “the most horrendous time to be an England cricketer” due to the added pressure that came with playing international sport during a global pandemic.

Key said: “I remember just thinking: Oh, my God. Joe Root. How well has he done?

“We obviously know he’s had a great year but he has had that year when he was doing everything as well it seemed.