Ben Stokes retirement: English all-rounder Ben Stokes has announced his retirement from ODI cricket.
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In a surprising news, English all-rounder Ben Stokes has announced his retirement from ODI cricket. Stokes confirmed that the upcoming ODI against South Africa on Tuesday will be his last ODI match. The talismanic all-rounder was a part of the 2019 World Cup winning side as well.
Ben Stokes has played 104 ODIs for England, where he has scored 2919 runs at 39.45, whereas he has also scalped 74 wickets with the ball. It won’t be easy for England to replace an all-rounder like Stokes in the 50-over format.
Ben Stokes retirement
Ben Stokes announced his retirement via a Twitter post, where he shared a statement on the same. He announced that the first ODI match against South Africa at his home ground in Durham will be his last ODI match. He said that it is a very tough decision for him as he loved playing every bit of it.
“I have loved every minute of playing with my mates for England. We have had an incredible journey on the way,” Ben Stokes said in his statement.
“As hard as a decision as this was to come to, it’s not as hard dealing with the fact I can’t give my teammates 100% of myself in this format anymore.”
Stokes insists that his body won’t be able to sustain the pressure of playing all three formats of the game. He confirmed that he is fully focused on leading the test side, and he will be playing the T20 format as well. He said that he don’t want to take the spot of the deserved player in the ODI team.
“I will give everything I have to Test cricket, and now, with this decision, I feel I can also give my total commitment to the T20 format,” Ben Stokes added.
“I would like to wish Jos Buttler, Matthew Mott, the players and the support staff every success going forward. We have made great strides in white-ball cricket over the past seven years, and the future looks bright.”
Ben Stokes has confirmed that he will be ready to play the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 for England.
