Ben Stokes reversing on his ODI retirement to play in the World Cup 2023 didn’t surprise people. And it certainly didn’t surprise Stuart Broad, the England pacer who retired from international cricket recently and played under Stokes in the Test side.
Ben Stokes, who was the Player of the Match in the 2019 WC Final, had retired from ODI cricket last year, citing it being “unsustainable” for him to play in all three formats. He won the T20 World Cup last year, scoring a fifty in the final.
On his ODI comeback last month, he played a breathtaking innings of 182 runs in 124 balls against New Zealand.
“It didn’t surprise me that Ben Stokes made himself available — it’s probably a sign of things to come in future World Cups. Going forward, leading players might opt to rest their bodies for bilateral series, coming in just for the big tournaments. There were rumours of it happening with AB de Villiers and South Africa in 2019,” Broad wrote in his column in the Daily Mail.
“It’s not something that bothers me at all because you want your best players on show, and Ben Stokes is one of those.”
Ben Stokes will show his true worth in the knockout games: Stuart Broad
Even though he’s struggling with a knee injury, that would render him to not bowl much in the tournament, England are happy to have him as a batsman only. Stuart Broad is confident that Stokes will turn up in the knockout phase of the World Cup. He labeled Stokes’ ability to perform under high pressure as his best quality.
“From an England perspective, Stokes will show his true worth in the knockout games. Because when the World Cup comes to a head, you want him in the middle order. His ability to cope with pressure is one of the main reasons he has been picked. It isn’t a quality that’s inherent.
“You learn it from experience and Stokes learned from his lowest moment, in the final of 2016’s Twenty20 World Cup. Since getting hit for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite, look at how he’s coped with pressure scenarios.”
“Since then, England have won a couple of World Cups, and some Ashes Tests because of him.”
