Online Reporter
BEN STOKES’ sensational retirement from international cricket ends one of England’s greatest and most colourful and controversial careers.
The ECB released a statement at 3.25pm saying that Stokes was quitting the captaincy and quitting playing for England altogether.
And, with the very first delivery after the news was announced at Trent Bridge and he received a standing ovation, Stokes took a wicket. Who writes his scripts?
He found the edge of Kiwi No9 Zak Foulkes’ bat and Harry Brook, his likely successor as Test captain, held a fine catch at second slip.
The crowd erupted and Stokes charged towards his celebrating team-mates.
Stokes has been talking about retirement with those closest to him in the near-three weeks since his curfew-breaking appearance at a London nightclub after victory in the First Test.
He told his stunned players of his decision in the dressing room before the start of play on Sunday.
Typically, his only concern was that the players did not get wrapped up in emotion and concentrated with 100 per cent commitment on trying to win the game.
After, his tea, formed a guard of honour as he took the field.
It is now clear the anger directed at him from his bosses over his visit to the London nightclub was the final straw in the wake of a tough Ashes tour.
Stokes’ relationship with the ECB hierarchy has been strained ever since he was banned from the 2017-18 Ashes tour and later fined £30,000 – despite being cleared of affray.
Most of the personnel has changed, but Stokes retains a distrust of the men in suits.
But what a feast of memories he leaves behind. He played the greatest England innings of all time — 149 not out against Australia at Headingley in 2019 —and helped win the World Cup that summer. His 258 from 198 balls against South Africa in Cape Town in 2016 was the most sustained assault in history by an England batsman.
And there are countless marathon spells – often despite the pain of injury —and gravity-defying catches. As permanent captain, he led England to 11 wins in his first 12 Test matches in charge. They had won one of their previous 17.
Bazball was named after head coach Brendon McCullum but it was Stokes who implemented it on the field. In those heady days of 2022 and 2023, England went close to re-inventing Test cricket with the speed at which they scored.
Stokes wanted his men to “play like rock stars” and he oversaw brilliant tactics and innovative fielding positions. But the glitter began to dim.
England couldn’t win series against Australia or India and, last winter, the preparation and planning for the Ashes series was downright amateurish. Cracks appeared in Stokes’ relationship with McCullum and they have not entirely healed.
This is a man of extremes and contradictions. He attacks rehab with manic ferocity and stays off the booze for months. But then one night he gets the taste — and the drinks keep on flowing.
He gives everything on the field but has been sent home from an England Lions tour for drinking, broken his hand punching a dressing-room locker, appeared in court charged with affray and broken his own curfew.
The England cricket team will certainly be more dull without Ben Stokes. —Sun.
