Longer-form white-ball cricket is paying the price for the T20 takeover – I’m not sure if anything can save it now
A week ago I would have confidently assumed that Ben Stokes would be fully committed to England’s 50-overs side, focusing on the next ODI World Cup as a reigning champion, massively motivated by the prospect of defending his title and able if necessary to take advantage of his position as Test captain to pick and choose his schedule to allow him to remain involved. His retirement took me completely by surprise, and is a huge blow for the team.
Apparently the idea struck him during the first ODI against India at the Oval this month, a humiliating loss in which Stokes was one of four senior batters to be out without scoring. The nature of sport is that when you win you often don’t feel the fatigue and shrug off your body’s aches and pains – but when you lose it can be as if they are doubled. That will have played its part, and clearly he has been struggling with his knee and not bowling his ration of overs as an all-rounder for some time.
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