England test captain Ben Stokes will retire from international cricket after the third test against New Zealand, bringing the curtain down on a career that included the 2019 World Cup triumph and one of the most famous Ashes innings of all time.
When the news was announced at Trent Bridge on Sunday it drew a standing ovation from the crowd.
The timing may have been intended to inspire his teammates to deliver one last win for him, with England’s backs to the wall in the deciding third match of the sereies, and Stokes, playing in his 122nd test, took a wicket with his first ball afterwards.
Stokes, who had only opened twice before in his England career, then strode out with Ben Duckett to spearhead England’s pursuit of a victory target of 373 – through a guard of honour formed by the New Zealand fielders and the umpires.
He got them away to a flying start with two sixes in the first five overs in front of a crowd willing him on to produce one last heroic innings before he holed out for 30 and left the field to one last standing ovation.
Stokes, who will continue to play for Durham, said the responsibility of the England captaincy had burned him out.
“It’s the best thing that I’ve ever been asked to do captaining this team, captaining this country,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s the greatest honour that can ever be put on your shoulders as a player but there’s another side to it that people don’t see and don’t understand. Only the people close to you can really see what you do go through emotionally.
“As good as it is there are bits that do get you, do drain you and do affect you in a negative way but overall for four and a half years, or whatever it’s been, I’ve loved every single moment of it.”
In a video shared by the ECB, Stokes told his teammates: “The only thing that I want is to be able to walk off the end of that field, regardless of the result, knowing that I’ve had this group give everything for the last two days.
“All the emotion, all that kind of stuff, please can we just wait for the end of the game?”
–Reuters–
