English cricketers seem to have taken refuge in Wednesday for coming out of individual retirements ahead of high-profile competitions. Latest to do so, England Test captain Ben Stokes has reversed his decision of maintaining distance from ODI cricket exactly 10 weeks after all-rounder Moeen Ali had done the same with respect to his Test career despite facing criticism from traditionalists.
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At the time, Stokes had cited not being able to give 100% to the team’s cause due to “unsustainable modern-day scheduling” as a reason for letting go of one format. Having played the last of his 105 ODIs against South Africa in Chester-le-Street 13 months ago, he has now taken a U-turn at the behest of the white-ball team management with less than two months remaining for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Ali, meanwhile, had returned to first-class cricket after 21 months ahead of Ashes 2023. Speaking particularly of A-list English cricketers who announced shocking retirements only to overturn the decision later, these two are right up there in addition to former batter Kevin Pietersen. For those who don’t know, even Pietersen had countered his decision to retire from limited-overs cricket 11 years ago.
Ben Stokes Comes Out Of Retirement For ICC Cricket World Cup 2023
While no particular story around who exactly messaged Stokes in order to convince him has come out in the public domain for now, England white-ball head coach Matthew Mott had most recently stated that white-ball captain Jos Buttler was given the responsibility to “communicate”.
Stokes, 32, is part of England’s 15-member squad for a four-match ODI series against New Zealand beginning September 8. An archetype big-match player, the left-handed batter and right-arm bowler’s tendency to be at his best during world events remains a key reason behind the team management pushing hard for his comeback.
“The return of Ben Stokes only adds to that quality with his match-winning ability and leadership. I am certain that every fan will enjoy seeing him back in an England ODI shirt again,” England Men’s National Selector Luke Wright said in a statement.
When all’s said and done, it will be worth noting how England will utilize Stokes as a bowler. For the unversed, a knee injury has really hampered his ability to bowl consistently across formats in the last year or so.
England Squad For New Zealand ODIs
Readers must note that Stokes is one of the six changes made to the English squad which had toured Bangladesh five months ago. In addition to Stokes, former Test captain Joe Root, batter Jonny Bairstow, all-rounders Liam Livingstone and David Willey and uncapped pacer Gus Atkinson have also been added to the squad.
Talking about the outgoing players, batters Phil Salt and James Vince, spin-bowling all-rounders Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed and fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood have had to make way for the aforementioned players due to various reasons.
England ODI Squad – Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
