- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
ACE England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who announced a shock retirement from one-day international (ODI) cricket this week, was visibly emotional while he came out to field in his last 50-over assignment at Chester-le-Street against South Africa on Tuesday (19).
The 31-year-old, who has recently been made the captain of the Three Lions’ Test side, came up with his announcement after the conclusion of the three-match ODI series against India at home on Sunday (17). He said it was not sustainable for him to play all the three formats and even uttered later that players are not cars who would run by pouring in fuel.
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??????? #ENGvSA ?? | @benstokes38 pic.twitter.com/teNgTVlV7T
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 19, 2022
The England side led by Jos Buttler put Stokes in front while taking the field against the Proteas. Stokes, one of the heroes of England’s maiden World Cup victory in the 50-over format in 2019, was seen turning emotional as the crowd at the venue gave him a rousing reception. Buttler also came up and gave the Test skipper a hug before heading for his wicket-keeping job. He also acknowledged the crowd’s gesture.
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On the ground, however, Stokes could not do anything special as he went wicketless and managed to score only five runs as the Three Lions went down fighting against the African opponents to lose by 62 runs. Stokes ended up with 2,924 runs and 74 wickets in 105 ODIs since making his debut in the format against Ireland in Dublin in 2011.
After Stokes got dismissed, South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj also bid him goodbye.
On Monday (18), Stokes said the decision was an “incredibly tough” one to make.
“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. The England shirt deserves nothing less from anyone who wears it. Three formats are just unsustainable for me now. Not only do I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us, but I also feel that I am taking the place of another player who can give Jos and the rest of the team their all,” he said in a statement.
Stokes also said that besides Tests, he would also continue playing in T20 internationals.
