Ben Stokes, the England captain whose stellar career was nurtured at Cockermouth is to retire from one-day international cricket.
Tomorrow’s series opener against South Africa in Durham will be his last in that format.
Since his debut against Ireland in 2011, Stokes has played 104 ODIs and scored 2,919 runs, including three centuries, as well as taking 74 wickets.
However the 31-year-old, who was appointed England’s Test captain in April, will still play Twenty20 cricket as well as leading the red-ball side.
Stokes will forever be associated with Cumbria and his arrival here as a youngster when his father Ged was appointed coach at Workington Town rugby league club.
Last month, he was back at Sandair to watch a Cumbria League game and spent time to sign dozens of bats, shirts and autograph books.
Word had got round about him being back at the cricket club where he was seriously coached for the first time before he signed for Durham.
He was there before play started at 1pm and didn’t leave until after 8pm, with Cockermouth enjoying their best attendance of the year – by some degree.
Speaking of his decision to retire from 50-over cricket Stokes said: “Three formats are just unsustainable for me now. This has been an incredibly tough decision to make. I have loved every minute of playing with my mates for England. We have had an incredible journey on the way.”
He announced last week that he would miss this season’s Hundred competition to manage his workload, and was left out of England’s T20 squad for the upcoming games against South Africa.
Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket, said: “Ben Stokes has had an incredible international career in ODI cricket, culminating in his match-winning performance at the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final.
“I know this must have been a tough decision, but I completely understand why he has reached this conclusion.
“I’m sure that when we look back on Ben’s career we will see this as one of the reasons he will play 120-plus Tests and help England in T20 matches and World Cups for many years to come.”
