Aug 17 – England’s Test captain, Ben Stokes, has changed his mind about retiring from 50-over cricket ahead of the team’s title defence in India in October, and has been chosen to the men’s ODI squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
“Any series against New Zealand will provide us with an ideal opportunity to test ourselves against one of the best teams in the world,” England men’s national selector Luke Wright said.
“The return of Ben Stokes only adds to that quality with his match-winning ability and leadership. I am certain that every fan will enjoy seeing him back in an England ODI shirt again.”
As the captain of the 2019 World Cup returned, Harry Brook was left out of the squad. Pacer Jofra Archer was also left out due to a recurrence of his injury.
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England coach Matthew Mott recently stated that he was anxious to entice the Test captain out of retirement and was willing to use him as a pure batter in ODIs.
Stokes retired from One Day Internationals in July 2022 and, following the Ashes, repeated his desire to remain retired from the 50-over format in order to be fit for the Test series against India in early 2024.
Stokes suffered a knee injury in New Zealand in February, forcing him to miss the most of the Indian Premier League season.
