Srinagar: England Test team captain Ben Stokes has clarified that he has no plans to play ODI World Cup 2023 for England as he is retired from the format.
Stokes helped England to success at last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and many hoped the 32-year-old would come out of ODI retirement to help his country try and emulate their efforts in the shortest format and defend their 50-over World Cup title in India.
But Stokes said he remains retired from 50-over cricket and that he was looking forward to taking a break after the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval that commences on Thursday.
“I’m retired,” Stokes reiterated.
“I’m going on holiday after this game and that’s as far as I’m thinking.”
Stokes hurt his knee during England’s tour of New Zealand at the start of the year and managed to play just two matches for the Chennai Super Kings at this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League.
While the talented all-rounder has produced some superb individual efforts with the bat during the Ashes series already, he did not bowl during the two recent Tests at Headingley and Old Trafford and will yet again not feature from a bowling perspective in south London this week.
Stokes admitted the fact he is unable to bowl because of his knee concern is making him consider whether or not to get surgery at the completion of the Ashes, with England’s next Test series not scheduled until they travel to India to take on Rohit Sharma’s side at the start of 2024.
“It’s something I obviously want to get sorted,” Stokes said of his injury.
“The times in which I’ve seen specialists and stuff like that there has been cricket around. So, as it’s been manageable, we’ve just cracked on.
“But I think that is a good time to have some serious conversations with medics around what is potentially something I could do to get a role in which I can bowl without having to worry about my knee. Those are conversations we will be able to have in that time off.”
And while Stokes knows he is closer to the end of his career than the start, the England captain said he still wants to hang around to make sure he is part of the next Ashes series in Australia at the end of 2025.
“How this series has gone and how close we were, it does make you think when we go to Australia, do we have a better chance than the last few times we’ve been there,” Stokes pondered.
“Hopefully, it’d be nice to go out to Australia in 2025 and have a good chance of winning.”
Courtesy : ICC