How Ben Stokes was forced to retire from ODI Cricket
Credit: Sky News
The retirement of Ben Stokes from ODI cricket has sent shockwaves through the cricketing community - here is a man who has been the forefront of ODI cricket for England over the last 3 years at least - starting with the 2019 ODI World Cup. A household name, he is the Test Captain, a main figure of the ODI and T20I teams and plays in the Hundred. He had plenty more to give to ODI cricket for years to come, and will leave a huge hole in the England ODI team.
If Ben Stokes of all people is retiring from ODI cricket due to the hectic cricket schedule, then there must be something wrong with the schedule. This isn’t a new issue - series have been overlapping with each domestic tournaments for years. The 2022 Men’s IPL coincided with an Australia-Pakistan series, meaning that several Australian stars missed out on part of a lucrative contract.
With T20 tournaments such as the IPL and the Hundred taking larger slots in the cricket calendar due to them being revenue drivers, Test, ODI and T20I series are being driven to the fringes of the calendar, occurring in the colder, unwanted months.
For example, the England South Africa Test Series in England happening in September. Due to the Hundred running through the summer and the England India white ball series preceding it, England will be playing South Africa in Test cricket after the summer holidays, reducing the potential amount of spectators who would buy tickets and matches.
A more recent example is the two-day turnaround for England white ball cricketers: after playing in the third ODI against India, they have 2 days until their next assignment: an ODI series against South Africa.
How is a player of the calibre of Ben Stokes, who is one of the first on the team sheets for England in all three formats, supposed to play international cricket across the world as well as the Hundred and potentially the IPL, while balancing family time and commitments?
The player must make hard choices, choosing not to play in certain tournaments and formats. The consequence of the hectic cricket schedule is that Stokes will not play in the Hundred and has had to retire from ODI cricket.
Why ODI cricket, you may ask? As Test captain, he can’t and will not want to retire from Test cricket. T20I cricket is so popular, especially with younger audiences, and with a T20I World Cup coming this year, he can’t retire. ODI cricket is being tossed aside by players fed up of playing cricket every month of the year, having no choice.
Something needs to be done about the cricket calendar, because as time passes the ICC are adding more tournaments and more matches without much regard to player welfare. Player burnout will become more frequent, leading to more early retirements of the best players. More quarrels will happen between players and cricket boards on which international matches they can play or not.