‘I’m retired’ - Ben Stokes denies possibility of ODI return ahead of World Cup

England red-ball skipper Ben Stokes announced his retirement from One Day Internationals in 2022 to manage his workload. However, there was a sense of belief that the cricketer may return ahead of the ODI World Cup, which is slated to begin on October 5 in India.

Notably, Stokes has been a force to reckon with for England in the last few years, helping the team win the ODI World Cup in 2019 and T20 World Cup in 2022 and his involvement would have only increased England’s chances in the 2023 mega event. However, the all-rounder clarified that he has no plans to make his return to ODI cricket and he would instead go on a holiday after the Ashes. 

“I'm retired. I'm going on holiday after this game [fifth Ashes Test] and that's as far as I'm thinking,” Stokes was quoted as saying by ICC.

Stokes also acknowledged that he is still not able to contribute to his full potential as an all-rounder, having not bowled in the ongoing Ashes after the second Test due to his long-standing knee issue. The Durham all-rounder suggested that post-Ashes will be an opportunity for him to have “serious conversations” with the doctors to solve the problem and be able to bowl without “having to worry about my knee”.

“It's something I obviously want to get sorted. 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,” he said.

Stokes also stated his ambition of going to Australia and winning the Ashes in 2025, having failed to do that at home this year after the rain-enforced draw in Manchester. 

“I mean obviously 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. Hopefully, it’d be nice to go out to Australia in 2025 and have a good chance of winning. It would be nice to say I’ve won it twice. There’s obviously a lot of cricket that’s played around the Ashes as well, but we’ll just see when 2025 comes around,” Stokes mentioned.