With all the buzz around his own return to play ODIs for England after quitting the 50-over format last year, Ben Stokes has grown accustomed to the three-letter phrase.
Three syllables in one word. Just before England’s maiden ODI World Cup campaign as defending champions, that was all it was and all that might have altered the tone of English cricket.
‘Lol’. It was what Moeen Ali had written in response to the question “Ashes?” posed by the Test captain of England. A discussion that led the all-rounder to reverse his decision to retire from Test cricket two years prior in order to be a part of the Ashes squad and play a crucial part in leveling the series at 2-2
Ben Stokes used the three-letter term on Wednesday in his own poetic way in connection with all the discussions around his own comeback to play ODIs for England after quitting the 50-over game last year. This is because England included him in their preliminary roster of 15 players for the forthcoming competition in India.
England’s T20 and ODI head coach, Matthew Mott, recently said in an interview with The Daily Mail, “Ben’s quite straight with all of us, but Jos Buttler will probably lead the way on that communication. We’ll check on his interest.
Stokes played a significant role in the England team’s victory over New Zealand in the World Cup final at Lord’s, adding 84 runs to his tournament total of 465 runs.
However, England’s newly chosen Test captain would later say that playing in all three formats was no longer “sustainable” in July 2022. As difficult as it was to make this decision, he would write, “it’s not as difficult dealing with the fact that I can’t give my teammates 100% of myself in this format anymore.”
In if Stokes’ heroics for England in the most recent T20 World Cup final weren’t evidence enough, that outstanding performance in the previous edition. After losing two early wickets in the powerplay against Pakistan, England came to bat. Stokes struck another half-century in the ICC final, helping England become the first side to simultaneously hold the ODI and T20 World Cup championships.
Even though he hasn’t bowled recently because to knee problems, his recent performances in the longest format of the game, in line with the Bazball philosophy, have shown the southpaw is still a middle order hitter made for ODIs. The England captain finished fourth on the batting charts in the just concluded Ashes series with 405 runs off 9 innings.
Stokes has the highest average across all three forms in ODIs, where he averages 39 and has 2924 runs at a strike rate of 95.1 over 90 innings.
Ollie Pope would tell Sky Sports of Stokes’ importance to the England team: “He’s a player that any England team is lucky to have in its side. It’s no secret that he has been attempting to manage his knee (problems), therefore it is obvious that he has them. It’s fantastic for him that he thinks he’s in a position to go and make a significant contribution to a competition like the World Cup. Any squad with Ben Stokes on the roster is a superior team. If these rumors are accurate, I believe he will have a fantastic tournament.
England stands a fair chance of laughing out at the end of it, even if it ends up being Stokes’ farewell act in ODIs as the Ashes was for Moeen in Tests.
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, and Chris Woakes make up England’s preliminary ODI squad.
