Ben Stokes To Come Out Of Retirement To Play In ICC World Cup 2023? Allrounder Delivers Final Update

England superstar Ben Stokes has revealed his plans for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. The allrounder had sensationally retired from the 50-over format last year after the home series against South Africa. Ben Stokes put curtains on his ODI career to focus on his Test and T20I careers.

But later in November last year, he had hinted of making a possible u-turn on his ODI retirement to play one more World Cup for his country in the 50-over format. Speaking before the first Test against Pakistan last year, Ben Stokes had revealed director of men’s cricket Rob Key had asked him about making a return to ODIs.

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“Keysy pulled me to the side in the UAE and as soon as he said ’50-over World Cup’ I just walked away,” said Stokes.

“Who knows? At the moment, being out here, my focus is solely on this series (against Pakistan). But it’s one of those things. But who knows how I might feel towards a World Cup at the time. Going to a World Cup is an amazing thing to do, to represent your country. But at the moment I’m not even thinking about that,” he had added.

Ben Stokes had played a key role in England’s triumph in the T20 World Cup last year. The Test captain had scored 110 runs at an average of 36.66 and picked up six wickets. He had also scored an unbeaten match-winning fifty in the final against Pakistan.

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Ben Stokes on ICC World Cup 2023:

While many believed that the temptation of a World Cup in India could force Ben Stokes to come out of retirement, the England star has decided otherwise. The allrounder has once again made it clear that he has retired from the 50-over format and has no plans to play in the World Cup. Ben Stokes has said that instead of playing the World Cup, he will use the time out of the game to consider surgery for his ongoing knee injury.

“I’m retired,” Ben Stokes reiterated. “I’m going on holiday after this game and that’s as far as I’m thinking.”

Speaking further, Ben Stokes talked about his problematic knee. He hurt his knee during England’s tour of New Zealand at the start of the year and has been struggling with it since then. During this year’s IPL, he played just two matches for Chennai Super Kings and has only bowled a handful of overs in the first two Tests of the ongoing Ashes.

“It’s something I obviously want to get sorted,” Stokes said of his injury. “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.

“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,” he added.

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