Former Australian captain Tim Paine has blasted England star Ben Stokes’ long-expected decision to reverse his ODI retirement call just months out from the 2023 World Cup.
Stokes, England’s Test captain the hero of their 2019 World Cup triumph, surprisingly chose to call it quits on the 50-over format in July last year, citing the physical and mental demands of playing all three formats.
However, it has been rumoured for months that the star all-rounder would make a comeback for the prestige tournament, and so it has proved.
Speaking on SEN Tassie, Paine suggested the turnaround was a selfish move from Stokes, given he has claimed the spot of a teammate who has been available for England throughout the last year – young gun Harry Brook has been dumped from the team’s 15-man squad to face New Zealand in September in preparation for the tournament, and seems likely to remain on the sidelines for the World Cup itself.
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“It was a bit of, ‘Me, me, me’, there isn’t it?” Paine remarked.
“It was, ‘I’ll pick and I’ll choose where I want to play and when I want to play’, and, ‘I’ll play in the big tournaments’.
“The guys who played for 12 months? ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now’.”
Ben Stokes (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Further complicating matters is the fact that Stokes, due to a chronic knee injury exacerbated during the Ashes series, will not be bowling at the World Cup, which begins in India in early October.
Paine, who represented Australia in 35 Tests and 35 ODIs across an injury-interrupted career, isn’t sure Stokes will provide sufficiently more with the bat than Brook, a specialist batter, to justify his inclusion ahead of the 23-year old prodigy.
“He’s not bowling… Harry Brook or Ben Stokes, as a bat?” Paine wondered.
“It would be very close, very, very close.”
However, Paine still believes England, the reigning ODI and T20 World Cup champions having claimed the latter tournament in Australia late last year, deserve to be among the favourites to defend their title alongside hosts India – though he believes Australia themselves are a chance ‘if they can get hot’.
With 465 runs at 66.42 in the last World Cup in 2019, including a priceless unbeaten 84 in the famous final that saw England claim victory via a Super Over and controversial boundary countback, Stokes’ exploits in limited-overs cricket are legendary.
England will begin the 2023 edition with the first match of the tournament on October 5, a rematch of the 2019 decider against New Zealand.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
So he is just like most other cricketers around the world then I guess.
jammel
Roar Rookie
Agreed. But if I was English I'd still want Brook in my ODI XI....
RT
Roar Rookie
Ever since Greg Chappell!
Nick
Roar Rookie
Stokes probably concluded there is no better place to audition for a fat IPL contract than in India.
The Bush
Roar Guru
I appreciate that he's been asked to come out of 'retirement', but it must have been a paper-thin retirement if he's prepared to do it despite being injured. I just don't understand what was the point of 'retiring' last year if you didn't really mean it? Why not just privately tell the selectors that you don't want to play ODI cricket for the moment, as you're feeling too stretched. Don't need to 'announce' anything that way. Considering you're 'Ben Stokes', it wasn't going to impact on your ability to get selected. There's even an example of this in his own team; Root has hardly played any ODI cricket for the last four years, but he didn't retire, because the top players are frequently not playing the bilateral series these days. But Root was always going to be in this squad, fitness permitting.
Drac
Roar Rookie
That's why we have a term buried in folklore, "Whingeing Pom"! Maybe try a rhyme from that?
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Sorry polymath, you're meant to be a genius be your own title. It's same old Aussies always cheating, the whinging is perfected elsewhere. Get with the times
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Ben has to be first picked for his unique ability to hit boundaries from overthrows
Partyhat
Roar Rookie
Yes definitely, I saw the news Stokes was in but didn’t realise Brook was left out for him, big mistake.
Polymath
Roar Rookie
Same old Aussies, always whingeing.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
He is being criticised in this article for being the one who is driving this. I'm just suggesting that same thing has been happening here, in Australian cricket, for a while...but without the criticism.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Stokes didn't tell them to pick him, he was talked into by someone in English cricket. Why would he want to come out of ODI retirement and risk his reputation and the teams chance if winning the WC? He's still got a bad leg and hasn't played any cricket of any kind since the last Asjes Test and no ODIs for more than a year?
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
He may well do something spectacular again in India, but what if he has a quiet tournament and England underperform? In effect the ECB has decided Stokes with a gimpy leg is a better option than a fully fit young fella who is batting as well as anyone in any form of the game (Brook would walk into any other squad at the WC, IMO). It's a massive gamble.
Partyhat
Roar Rookie
I would def want Harry Brook in the squad but I’m well happy Stokes is in. It may be some sort of selective memory bias, but in my mind he is the absolute epitome of ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ So many times (in my head) in recent memory he’s played the situation and not only got us out of a hole but basically won it for us.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
The pub-coup crew.
The Idiot
Roar Rookie
When asked why he is retiring, Paine replied "I cannot stick it out any more"
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
But specifically the NSW Test players, right?
The Idiot
Roar Rookie
A Jon Dorotich!
Jez North
Roar Rookie
:laughing:
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Sticking it out was what got him in trouble in the first place