Ben Stokes shocked the world earlier this year when he announced that he would be retiring from ODI cricket. The 2019 World Cup-winning star played his last ODI on July 19 against South Africa at his home turf in Durham. In his retirement statement, Stokes admitted that playing in all three formats was no longer “sustainable” for him. Stokes, who is currently the skipper of England in the longest format, recently spoke about his decision to retire from the 50-over format and what does he makes of the ODIs right now.
The 31-year-old also spoke about how the ICC can look to make the ODIs a 40-over per side contest as there would not be a drastic change in scores and almost same sort of scores would be on offer as compared to 50 overs.
“It is a pretty tough decision but at the same time, it was made easy for me. I always had it at the back of my mind that I would have to you know, walk away from one of the white-ball formats. I just did not know which one, and I was not going to make a decision until I was clear in my mind which one it is going to be. You hear people say who have retired from many things, they say ‘when you know, you know’,” said Stokes during a select media call organised by Prime Video, who will be streaming Stokes’ documentary ‘Ben Stokes: Phoenix From The Ashes’ from August 26.
“So, it was after the first ODI against India at the Oval, which I finished that game, even on the evening of the game, it was my moment of ‘when you know, you know’. Yeah, almost hit me in the face, just like that. As hard it was to know that I won’t be playing this format anymore, it was also a decision that was almost made easy because of how quickly it hit me,” he added.
Talking about the future of ODIs and whether he would like to see any change in the format, Stokes said: “Yeah, it is a great question at the moment with how much cricket is being played around the world. You know, the last thing anybody wants is to be there a format, I do not know, be taken away from people. Maybe there is a way, ICC can look at, maybe restructuring the schedule, maybe redoing the format. You look at England now with the Hundred, they are making a completely new format but that still goes alongside the T20 version.”
