England all-rounder Ben Stokes took a sudden retirement from ODI cricket after England- India series. In what came as a shock to many his retirement brought a lot of questions about the workload of players, as that was the driving force behind Stokes’s retirement.
The 31-year-old cited workload management as the main reason for hanging his boots in the 50-over format. Talking to the press the England Test captain said, “There is too much cricket rammed in for people to play all three formats now,” said Stokes, who became England’s Test captain in April. “We are not cars, you can’t just fill us up and we’ll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again.”
Recently the frequency of cricket has gone up a notch with a series ready to be played before one ends. England have been playing non-stop cricket since the New Zealand series. Between second June and fifth July, the three lions played four Tests. After the New Zealand Test ended, and before the start of the India Test, England also played three ODI matches against the Netherlands.
After the arrival of India, the hosts played one test, three T20Is and three ODIs in a span of a month. But this was not the end of their jam-packed schedule. After the series against India ended, England began an ODI series against South Africa after just a two-day break.
Will give everything to Test cricket- Ben Stokes
This much cricket is bound to break any athlete, however strong they might be. England are playing South Africa at home in a three-match ODI, T20I and Test series from 19th July to 12th September.
Ben Stokes in his retirement post said, “I will give everything I have to Test cricket, and now, with this decision, I feel I can also give my total commitment to the T20 format.”
Stokes played 105 ODI matches and scored 2924 runs at an average of 38.99. He also took 74 wickets with the best bowling figure of 5/61.
