Durham head coach Ryan Campbell has discussed Ben Stokes‘ future plans with the county, including the possibility of playing franchise cricket in the coming months. After retiring from international cricket, the former England Test captain joined Durham as a professional player.
According to Campbell, Stokes would be eligible for selection in a couple One Day Cup and County Championship games.
In the 50-over competition, the all-rounder defeated Derbyshire with an undefeated century on his return to represent his county.
“He is now a retired Test superstar who has reported back for duty for Durham so we will basically plot a course that will involve playing in the One-Day Cup and as many as the six four-day matches.”We will obviously keep an eye on him if his loads increase dramatically, but he is tough. At this point, he’ll play every game we can,” Durham coach Ryan Campbell told the BBC.
In 2027, Campbell suggested that Stokes would like to play franchise cricket all over the world. The Durham management hopes to negotiate an arrangement with the retiring left-handed batter for future seasons, according to the 54-year-old coach. We’ll sit down and, for the first time, negotiate a contract for him, which we’ve never done before.
But, just listening to him, there will be a couple of franchise universes that he will want to dip his toes into, and with that, plus our stuff, I believe it will be really interesting for him,” he said.
Stokes has not played franchise cricket since The Hundred 2024, when he played for the Northern Superchargers (now Sunrisers Leeds). He only played three games before suffering a hamstring strain. He only appeared twice for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League a year ago before suffering a knee injury.
