Ben Stokes has been described as “a leader of men” by Trevor Bayliss, who long saw the all-rounder as captaincy material during his time as the England head coach due to a magnetic presence in the dressing room.
Bayliss spent the best part of five years helping to guide Stokes’s ascent before returning to Australia last September and raised an eyebrow when reading that, with Joe Root down to miss next week’s first Test against West Indies for paternity leave, a new England captain was needed.
There was little doubt Stokes, restored to the vice-captaincy before last summer’s Ashes heroics, would step up here, but it still took Bayliss back to one of the first times he tipped the younger, fierier version for the top job – and the reaction this prediction received.
Speaking to the Guardian for an upcoming interview about the first anniversary of England’s World Cup victory last summer, Bayliss said: “I think it was after we lost to Bangladesh in Chittagong in late 2016 and there was conjecture around whether Alastair Cook would continue.
“The topic came up in my press conference and a lot of the talk was around Rooty taking over. He was the obvious replacement, as the vice-captain at the time. Then someone asked me, ‘Is there anyone else?’
“I put Stokesy’s name out there and everyone laughed. I was like ‘no, mate, I’m serious.’ He’s like Eoin Morgan in that he’s a leader of men and when he talks, everyone listens. They’re just drawn to him.
“The standing that other players hold him in, that’s half the battle. Whether you make the right or wrong decision, if your players believe you and have confidence in you – which I’m pretty sure they have – they’ll follow.”
Bayliss described Stokes as the “ideal” vice-captain to Root as the pair plan towards the next Ashes series in 2021-22 but said he is the type of character who would “find a way of handling it” should the top job come around.
As regards some of the additional off-field demands that may have weighed down others in the past, Bayliss said this confidence stems from two examples.
“Stokes is the one guy who will happily stand up and question something in the setup,” he said. “During the 2016 World T20 [the director of cricket] Andrew Strauss flew out to India to talk to the group about future plans for white-ball cricket. It was the day before a match [against Sri Lanka] and the room was being set up for it.
“Stokesy came to me and [the assistant coach] Paul Farbarce beforehand and said he thought it was the wrong timing during the campaign and I said, ‘Well, if that’s what you believe, we’ll back you.’ We spoke to Strauss, passed on this message and, to his credit, he said OK then, another time.
“[Stokes] may not relish the media side of captaincy but I reckon he might surprise a few how he does here too. To me, he handled a lot of that stuff around the Bristol incident [in 2017] pretty well – he never lost it, always stuck to his story and never shied away from any of it. If the team has a bad day on the field, I don’t think he’ll shy away from it either.”
Perhaps the greatest unknown is how Stokes will balance captaincy with his on-field duties as an all-rounder, in particular with the ball. In his press conference on Monday, the 29-year-old said he will ask himself what Root would want in the same situation but admitted only time will tell.
Bayliss added: “Will he bowl himself at the right times? Will he bowl himself long enough? Will he have the guts to bowl a long spell like he did in Leeds last year? [Stokes bowled an overnight spell of 24.3 overs in Australia’s second innings]. These are the questions we won’t have an answer to until it happens.
“But I think he’ll do a good job. I would expect him to be a fairly proactive captain and very positive. And whatever happens, it will certainly be interesting to sit back and watch.”