Ben Stokes, an all-rounder for England, stated that he knew during the Ashes series that he was going to change his decision to retire from one-day cricket in time for next month’s World Cup, and that he had ruled out a comeback in order to throw the media off the scent. He said that he knew he was going to reverse his decision because he was going to play for England in the World Cup.
The talismanic 32-year-old, who was England’s architect in their first 50-overs World Cup victory in 2019, surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from ODIs the previous year, citing his demanding schedule as his reason.
Stokes shot down any idea of a possible return to the one-day international squad during the Ashes series in June and July, citing a lingering knee injury as the reason. During this time, there was widespread speculation that he may return to the format for England’s title defense.
However, he returned to the England set-up last month in front of their World Cup title defense in India, and he produced another example of his explosive batting in the third One-Day International (ODI) match against New Zealand on Wednesday, hammering 182 runs off just 124 balls.Read the complete account.
“Obviously I’ve been asked a lot about my knee over a long period of time, so I just said that to leave it,” Stokes stated in reference to his prior statements regarding the potential of a comeback in one-day internationals (ODIs).
“I knew that I’d be playing in these games and potentially in the World Cup then when I said that, but it was just the easiest thing to say that and put you (the media) off the radar,” the player added. “It was just the easiest thing to say that and put you (the media) off the radar.”
The fact that England has decided to play him as a specialist batter, preferably at number four, has allowed him to bat with greater freedom, according to him, and this is one of the reasons why.
Stokes remarked that “this is the first time that I’ve been clear in my mind that that’s the one thing I can focus on.” “This is the first time that I’ve been clear in my mind that that’s the one thing I can focus on,”
“I suppose that for the past 18 months, the question of ‘will I bowl, will I not bowl?’ has been on my mind every day. Now that I am aware of the fact that I am free to concentrate on that… Having that sort of mental coherence helps me contribute to that.”
On Friday, England will play New Zealand in the final one-day international match at Lord’s. They have a 2-1 advantage in the four-game series.