England’s chances of retaining the Twenty20 World Cup have been hit for six with the news Ben Stokes has opted out of selection for this year’s tournament.
The mercurial Stokes will miss June’s World Cup in the US and the West Indies to focus on regaining his fitness ahead of the northern summer’s Test schedule.
England are the defending T20 world champions, having claimed their second title in 2022 in Australia.
The England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement on Tuesday that Stokes’s primary focus “is to get fully fit to bowl” for the Test series against West Indies and Sri Lanka.
England’s Test captain, Stokes last played a T20 international for in the World Cup final at the MCG in November 2022.
“I’m working hard and focusing on building my bowling fitness back up to fulfil a full role as an allrounder in all formats of cricket,” Stokes said in a statement.
“Opting out of the (Indian Premier League) and the World Cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the allrounder I want to be for the foreseeable future.”
In November, Stokes underwent surgery for a knee issue which hampered his ability to bowl.
The 32-year-old bowled just five overs during England’s 4-1 series defeat in India last month.
“The recent Test tour of India highlighted how far behind I was from a bowling point of view after my knee surgery and nine months without bowling,” Stokes said.
England will play a four-match T20 series against Pakistan in preparation for the World Cup.
They then play group matches against Scotland, Australia, Oman and Namibia before the Super 8s and knockout stages.
Gamechanger
Roar Rookie
No runs and no wickets and a 4-1 loss. A little redemption is needed.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
"the money he'd make from the world cup"? Hardly a ripple in his bank account, BG. Sure, he misses a bit of IPL money, although his value has gone down. But he's earned about 25m GBP simply in cricket contracts in his career, plus buckets in endorsements. I'm confident he's not worried too much about the money. Word is he's got a pretty nice farm in the South Island too.
Gamechanger
Roar Rookie
Stokes isn’t currently producing runs and is having a hard time justifying his position as the “ all rounder “ in the side, when he hasn’t been able to bowl. I would think he is targeting primarily Test cricket and getting back to full fitness. He would have as his goal captaining England to an Ashes series win in Australia 2025/6 and going down as one of the all time great English captains to win down under. One problem. Cummins and co won’t allow this to happen. Australia 3-1 one draw in rain soaked Sydney
Cinderella's Big Score
Roar Rookie
If it's what it takes to get him back to being a genuine all-rounder in test cricket then I'm sure that it's worth it.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
St Ben making yet another sacrifice for his team and country, foregoing the money he'd make from the IPL and the World Cup, just to play Tests. Or is it because he was a passenger in the last Test series in England?
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
I thought it was because they don’t let blokes punch on in clubs while drunk in the US and Stokes didn’t want to risk Bristol 2.0 happening