England Test captain Ben Stokes on Sunday (June 28) confirmed his retirement from international cricket, bringing a close to his illustrious 15-year career.
The ace all-rounder made a shocking announcement to his teammates before the fourth day of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
"There’s something that I know is going to happen over the next two days. These are my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England. Reasons can wait. I’ve had many trips to the well before for this team, for you blokes, for people beforehand, and I’ve got one more trip to do," Stokes said in a video shared by ECB on social media.
“The only thing that I ask, please, is can everyone please just do the same? We’ve got a lot of hard work still to do, and the only thing that I want is to be able to walk off the end of that field regardless of the result, knowing that I’ve had this group of men, and one lady, give everything for the last two days, and the only thing I want is just for everyone to give it, not only for me selfishly, but also for this team, and everything else that we’ve got going forward for you blokes. All the taps on the arse (sic), all the emotion, all that kind of stuff, please can we just wait for the end of this game? Because we’ve still got shitload more work to do. And I’ve got a shitload more work to do that I want to do, so... Let’s just go out there and f**king give absolutely everything for another two days,” he added.
Ben Stokes has led the England Test side since April 2022, famously transforming the team's playing style alongside coach Brendon McCullum.
He was a central figure in some of England's famous victories over the last decade, playing a pivotal role in the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup triumphs.
Stokes, who was dropped from the second Test of the current series for breaching the team's midnight curfew, will finish his career with 122 Tests, 114 ODIs and 43 T20Is. His status as one of the best all-rounders to play Test cricket are underlined by a career haul of 7,243 runs and 251 wickets.
