Whenever the big moments arise, Ben Stokes always steps up. Whether it was Lords (2019), Headingley (2019) and now add Melbourne (2022) to this list. Ben Stokes has a knack for standing up on the biggest of occasions. 

Incidentally, Ben Stokes has already called time on his ODI career. Given that the ODI World Cup is next year in India, many fans will hope he comes out of retirement, including England’s white-ball coach Matthew Motts. 

Motts said that he has much to offer as a three-dimensional player and is the team’s glue. He is capable of extraordinary things and will win you games when he is on the crease. 

“When he spoke to me about his ODI retirement, one of the first things I said was that I’d back any decision he made, but I said to him he didn’t necessarily have to retire, he could just not play 50-overs for a while. And I said, ‘You could always unretire’,” Motts said. 

“I’ll let him dust off today. He’s his own man and he’ll make his own decisions. He’ll do what’s right for English cricket, and he always has. That was part of his decision to retire from ODI cricket. He didn’t think he could give it his all, and credit to him for making that decision because he’s such a special commodity for English cricket. We want what’s best for the whole system as well,” he added. 

“It will be upto him” – Matthew Motts on Ben Stokes’ decision to come back

Matthew Motts added that it will be Ben Stokes’ decision if he wants to return to this format. He added: 

“It’s going to be a World Cup year and we don’t play much T20 cricket for a while, but it will be up to him. The more we can get him is great. He’s doing an amazing job with the Test captaincy but he is a very big cog in the wheel when he comes back to white-ball.”

England will lock horns with Australia in an ODI series as the preparations for the ODI World Cup begins.

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