Michael Vaughan slammed Tim Paine for his comments on Ben Stokes and calling the all-rounder for his ODI retirement U-turn.
Stokes, the Test captain for England’s cricket team, has made a surprising reversal of his decision to retire from ODI cricket. This decision was announced ahead of England’s defense of their title in the World Cup, which is set to take place in India this autumn. Stokes had initially retired from ODI cricket in July 2022, citing an unsustainable cricketing schedule and concerns about a chronic left knee injury.
Stokes’ return to the ODI setup was confirmed by national selector Luke Wright, who included him in the squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand. Stokes’ coming back to the ODI setup has been met with excitement and anticipation. His decision to unretire was not taken lightly, and he has expressed his commitment to contributing to England’s World Cup defense.
However, Paine had a different opinion on the matter, as he felt Stokes was being a bit selfish with his decision to return.
“Ben Stokes coming out of one day retirement, I found that interesting. It was a bit of, ‘Me, me, me’, there isn’t it? It was,” Paine told SEN Radio.
“It was like ‘I’ll pick and I’ll choose where I want to play and when I want to play’, and, ‘I’ll play in the big tournaments’. The guys who played for 12 months, ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now?'”.
This didn’t sit well with Vaughan, who slammed the former Australia Test captain for his comments on Stokes’ return. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the former England captain said that Stokes is a selfless cricketer and puts the team ahead of himself.
Vaughan said it was a ridiculous suggestion from Paine.
“Ben stokes is the most selfless cricketer I have ever known .. He puts Team before himself more than any other player .. Ridiculous suggestion from Tim ..” tweeted Vaughan.
