In the midst of a Test match, Ben Stokes announced his retirement from international cricket, raising an inconvenient situation for English cricket.
After four years as England’s Test captain, Stokes revealed on Sunday that he felt “burnt out” after an incredible day of drama in the series’ third match at Trent Bridge against New Zealand. It will be nearly impossible to replace him in the England lineup, either as captain or as a match-winning all-rounder.
England’s crushing 160-run loss against New Zealand in the third Test at Trent Bridge marked the end of Stokes’ international career.
With the victory on Monday, New Zealand won the series 2-1 and condemned England to their seventh loss in nine Test matches. Stokes’ announcement of his withdrawal from the international match on Sunday’s fourth day in Nottingham, when the series was still up for grabs, shocked both fans and commentators.
After opening the innings, the 35-year-old all-rounder—typically a middle-order batsman—holed out. Before Sunday’s close, England lost three more wickets in a frantic attempt to reach a challenging total of 373, putting them well on their approach to their first series loss at home in three or more Test matches since 2012.
However, it should not come as a surprise if the all-rounder has had enough. Stokes required extensive facial surgery after being struck by a ball the following month, and England suffered a humiliating 1-4 Ashes defeat in Australia in a series that concluded in January.
After England’s victory in the first Test match against New Zealand, he was disciplined at a nightclub in London, which resulted in a written warning and his exclusion from the series’ second game.
“I’ll never begrudge any moment where I’ve walked this team out,” Stokes told Sky Sports after stumps. “It’s simply the greatest honour you could ever put on your shoulders as a player.”
But he added: “As good as it is, there are bits where it does get to you, it does drain you, it does affect you in a negative way.”
In light of England’s triumph in the opening Test at Lord’s, he stated: “I put so much time and effort into it I maybe, potentially burnt myself out.
“Everyone I spoke to about the day it (retirement) happens, they just say it kicks you straight in the face. And I thought a few weeks ago that it did. As I was putting my pads on (on Saturday) getting ready to go out there, that was the last nail in the coffin.”
Stokes, whose international career was interrupted by a 2017 nightclub incident that led to an affray charge before he was acquitted, intends to continue playing county cricket for Durham.
“Being back at Durham, I found not a reconnection but a new lease of life in my affection towards cricket,” he explained. “And then I just couldn’t get that same feeling back here this week (at Trent Bridge), as much as I was trying.”
In the second Test at the Oval, England appeared to be a severely unbalanced team, and his predecessor as captain, Joe Root, led the team to a crushing loss.
The curfew Stokes violated in London was imposed as a result of Harry Brook’s encounter with a bar bouncer in New Zealand prior to the Ashes, which put him in the ranks despite being the formal vice-captain.
With the aggressive Bazball batting that has been a defining feature of England’s game since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum linked up in 2022, Brook attempted to follow his captain’s lead on Sunday.
After he holed out off his ninth ball and flayed his opening ball for six, former England captain Michael Atherton wrote in The Times, “He is not the Test captain in waiting.”
Then again, who is?
