Ben Stokes denies rumours coming out of ODI retirement ahead of World Cup

England’s long-format skipper Ben Stokes has denied the possibility of coming out of ODI retirement ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Stokes, 32, announced his ODI retirement in July 2022 to manage his workload and focus mainly on red-ball cricket.

However, with World Cup approaching and Stokes being one of the most important pillars of this English team, there were rumours that the Brit may come out of retirement but the 32-year-old has denied it once and for all.

“I'm retired. I'm going on holiday after this game [fifth Ashes Test] and that's as far as I'm thinking,” Stokes was quoted as saying by ICC.

Stokes also addressed his knee problems saying that the Cricket World Cup would be the best time to have a serious conversation with his doctors.

“It's something I obviously want to get sorted. The times in which I've seen specialists and stuff like that there has been cricket around. So, as it's been manageable, we've just cracked on,” Stokes added.

But I think that is a good time to have some serious conversations with medics around what is potentially something I could do to get a role in which I can bowl without having to worry about my knee. Those are conversations we will be able to have in that time off.”

As of now, Stokes have his eyes on Ashes 2025 which will be held in Australia. He is determined to win the series in Australia after failing to win it at home this year thanks to rain.

“I mean obviously how this series has gone and how close we were it does make you think when we go to Australia do we have a better chance than the last few times we’ve been there. 

"Hopefully, it’d be nice to go out to Australia in 2025 and have a good chance of winning. It would be nice to say I’ve won it twice. There’s obviously a lot of cricket that’s played around the Ashes as well, but we’ll just see when 2025 comes around,” Stokes added.

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