Ben Stokes to 'think hard' about future in ODIs after knee surgery
Nov 12, 2023
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 12 : After England completed a disappointing World Cup campaign with a victory over Pakistan, all-rounder Ben Stokes confessed that he will have to think long and hard about continuing to play international one-day cricket for England.
Stokes came out of retirement to help England defend their World Cup title in India, but the choice appeared to backfire when he and the rest of the team were ousted early from the competition.
England did rescue some pride by winning their final two matches, with Stokes leading the way with the bat, as his big-hitting tonne against the Netherlands and superb 84 in Saturday's 93-run victory over Pakistan demonstrated.
Given his injury history, it remains to be seen whether Stokes, who is about to undergo surgery to treat his long-term left knee ailment, will delay his second retirement from the 50-over game.
"I think to answer that one it goes back to my initial reason for stepping away from this format, to ease my workload. As Test captain, there is a lot of stuff coming up. There's a lot of stuff that I want to do with that Test team. It will be a decision that I'm probably going to have to think about, quite hard, to produce an outcome," Stokes told Sky Sports.
"You never know the body might be in a lot better position than it was in the last 18 months. I put a lot of hard work in away from cricket to give myself the best chance of a quicker recovery. And there is Christmas and everything coming up. The main thing to me is getting this knee right and being ready to go," he added.
Following England's poor performance in India, many have called for severe personnel changes within the camp, something he is relieved he no longer has to worry about.
"When you look at the personnel that we have available it is very, very exciting and it's very, very good. In terms of this group, that's a decision that isn't up to me. But I think everybody knows the class that the dressing room has. I think they'll just have to do some kind of discussion, from the top, and see where people go," he added.
