Ben Stokes is one of the most impactful all-rounders in world cricket, but he had to announce retirement from ODIs last year due to workload. Still, England’s white-ball coach Matthew Mott hopes that the Test captain might unretire to play in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 to be played in India.
Stokes was part of England’s 2019 World Cup triumph and recently played a huge role in England winning the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. However, he bid goodbye to ODIs after playing the first match against India of the three-match series in July 2022.
He said that he was finding it increasingly difficult to manage the workload resulting from playing all three formats of the game. The allrounder reportedly walked out when the chief of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sought to convince Stokes to go back on his retirement.
To be noted, Stokes is the England Test captain and still plays the T20Is and will be seen playing in the IPL 2023 for the Chennai Super Kings franchise, which begins on March 31.
I Did Say You Could Always Unretire: Matthew Mott On Ben Stokes’ Chances Of Playing In World Cup 2023
Although Stokes had played the last of his 105 ODIs back in July last year against South Africa, his performance in the ICC World T20 showed that he can still make a difference in limited-over formats.
England’s white-ball coach Matthew Mott said following the ICC World T20 victory that he would love to see the burly allrounder back in England’s ranks when they embark on their big ICC World Cup defense in India.
“Absolutely. I did say you could always unretire. It will be a decision that’s up to him. The door is always open for a player of that quality but we are also very aware that his main focus is red-ball cricket as the captain,” Mott said during England’s ODI series against South Africa earlier this year, according to an Indian Express report.
“The issue about if he wants to play, we don’t need to know for a while. Halfway through that summer, gauging how he is feeling physically and mentally that will be his call if he wants to put himself up for selection,” he added.
Stokes has recently struggled with his knee, severely curtailing his participation in last month’s Test against New Zealand. He is aware that coming out of ODI retirement and playing in the ICC World Cup and ODI matches before that may put him in danger of missing the critical Test series against India early next year, even though he has played down concerns that his IPL participation will jeopardize his chances of playing the Ashes (June 16 to July 31).
CSK had bought Ben Stokes for a whopping Rs 16.25 crore at the IPL mini-auction in December last year.