The timing and circumstances surrounding Ben Stokes’ mid-match retirement have drawn plenty of mixed reaction from English media after the all-rounder’s incredible Test career ended with a whimper at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
The 35-year-old, one of the greatest cricketers of the past decade, has confirmed the ongoing Test against New Zealand will be his final appearance for England, ending a 15-year international career headlined by two World Cup triumphs and his Headingley heroics of 2019.
It comes after he was suspended from the second Test against New Zealand for breaking curfew at a nightclub following England’s series opener at Lord’s earlier this month.
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Stokes informed his teammates of his decision ahead of day four at Trent Bridge, choosing not to disclose the reason for his retirement.
“The reasons can wait,” he said, ominously.
He later added on Sky Sports: “It might sound quite selfish, but this decision is genuinely the best thing for me right now.
“I hope it’s the best thing for the team going forward, but I also hope it’s what will allow me to keep loving this game that has given me so much.”
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News of Stokes’ looming retirement reached the public during the afternoon session on day four, about 15 minutes before the tea break. In dramatic scenes, the Durham seamer claimed a wicket with his first delivery after the announcement, removing Zak Foulkes for 6.
However, former England captain Michael Atherton was not impressed with the unusual timing of the announcement, calling it “clearly an orchestrated spell” on Sky Sports commentary.
“It’s an extraordinary moment, a stunning moment, and it begs a number of questions — why and why now?” Atherton posed.
“In the middle of a day’s cricket with still a day to go with a match to win, draw or lose and a series on the line.”
Ashes icon Michael Vaughan penned in The Telegraph: “It seemed such random timing and such a bizarre way for one of England’s greatest cricketers to bow out.”
Later during the evening session, Stokes elevated himself to opener alongside Ben Duckett after England was tasked with chasing a 373-run target for an unlikely victory, but the surprising move backfired when the left-hander was dismissed by Foulkes for 30 off 20 balls, prompting a late collapse of 4-45.
England finished day four at 4-106, still trailing by 270 runs. Vice-captain Harry Brook, Stokes’ most likely replacement, was dismissed by Foulkes for 21 off 9 balls after slogging towards fine leg.
On The Final World podcast, journalist Ben Jones described Stokes’ final Test innings as “a tantrum from an unbelievably gifted cricketer”.
“It was fun to see the dying embers of his England career in complete, pure, absolute chaos,” he said. Jones also posted on X: “The way Stokes is batting feels far more like a man saying F*** You to his employers than a man who never intends playing international cricket again.”
Elsewhere, The Telegraph’s Scyld Berry called Stokes’ elevation “an archetypal Bazball decision, and one based on bravado, not brains”.
Stokes’ batting form has been gradually dipping across the last couple of years, averaging 26.88 in Tests since the start of 2024 with one hundred in 45 innings.
“Opening was a questionable move and did not pay off,” Atherton said of Stokes decision in The Times.
“While Stokes made a barnstorming 30 off 20 balls that included one or two extraordinary shots, it encouraged a degree of self-indulgence and recklessness that Brendon McCullum had promised was a thing of the past as his team looked to reset in the aftermath of the Ashes.”
Cricinfo’s Vithushan Ehantharajah added: “It was utterly needless, entirely self-centred … and mind-meltingly stunning from a renegade all-rounder who built his legacy out of astounding displays, but none quite like this.
“How can it be that a man who could conjure brilliance for others had to artificially concoct a narrative around himself? What does it say of the situation around him?”
Stokes’ soured relationship with the ECB came under the microscope following the curfew scandal, with some pundits questioning what role the nightclub drama played in his retirement.
According to reports, the England captain felt he had been thrown under the bus, arguing that specifics of the midnight curfew had not been properly communicated with the players.
Tellingly, cricket chief Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum stopped short of backing Stokes when they first spoke to media following the nightclub incident, which led to a ECB security guard requiring stitches.
“I just hope the last two weeks is not the reason (Stokes retired),” Vaughan said on BBC Test Match Special.
“If it’s the reason, I’m going to be so disappointed, that English cricket has got to the stage that one of our greatest has had to step down because of the way that the whole situation has been handled.”
He added in The Telegraph: “It does seem that the chaos of the last three weeks has been the final nail in the coffin.”
England, fresh off a humiliating 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, is staring down the barrel of its most significant home series loss in more than a decade, with the Black Caps charging towards victory in the decider.
If New Zealand gets the job done on Monday, it would mark the nation’s first Test series win in the United Kingdom since 1999, while England has not lost a three-match Test series on home soil since 2012.
Seemingly destined to suffer its eighth defeat in 14 matches, England has not won a Test series in nearly two years, sinking to seventh on the World Test Championship standings. It’s why former England fast bowler Steve Harmison called for the under-fire McCullum to follow Stokes out the door.
“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Brendon McCullum, but he’s got to go with him,” Harmison said on TalkSport.
The unknown identity of Stokes’ replacement looms as an immediate concern for the ECB. Veteran batter Joe Root, who fulfilled the role during last week’s Test in London, would be reluctant to take on the captaincy again, while Brook is under mounting pressure of his own, in the midst of a worrying slump with the bat.
The Yorkshireman was also embroiled in a nightclub scandal last year, involved in an altercation with a bouncer the evening before an ODI in Wellington. Currently England’s white-ball captain, Brook would find it near-impossible to lead his country across all three formats when taking a glance at the sport’s congested calendar.
“England may be forced to appoint Brook as its Ashes captain, but that’s a gamble given Brook’s disciplinary record and individual style,” veteran journalist Robert Craddock wrote for CODE Sports.
England will meanwhile struggle to find a No. 6 who can contribute in all three facets of the games, as Stokes has done for the last 13 years.
“Only time will tell if the team can live without (Stokes),” Vaughan penned.
“In recent years when Ben has not played, England have been completely unbalanced.
“No all-rounder in English cricket is anywhere near his skill set and competitive nature.”
Yet, the door remains open for Stokes to make a shock return for next year’s Ashes series, with the all-rounder set to continue playing domestic cricket.
It wouldn’t be an unprecedented move; he came out of ODI retirement three years ago for the World Cup campaign in India, while former all-rounder Moeen Ali backflipped on his Test retirement to serve as England’s strike spinner during the 2023 Ashes.
“There will be plenty of people waking up in Australia this Monday morning and breathing a sigh of relief that they never have to face him again,” Vaughan wrote.
“He has always been the one England player Aussies would have loved in their side, and the Ashes will be much harder to win back next year.”
Berry added in The Telegraph: “England’s chances of regaining the Ashes have accordingly slumped from, maybe, 30 per cent if Stokes had still been leader, to perhaps 15 per cent.”
Craddock argued: “Stokes was such an important figure that, in his absence, Australia must now be considered a strong chance to crack their winless Ashes run in England since 2001. He was that crucial.”
As for Stokes, it remains to be seen if the “reasons” for his bombshell exit will be explicitly voiced in coming days and weeks. Ehantharajah said that the skipper had already “burned his church to the ground” with his exit performance and wondered if the captain would later speak out.
“A man who saved his miracles for Sundays used his last Sunday to wreak havoc,” he wrote.
“Day four of this third and decisive New Zealand Test became a mix of flames and frenzy, as confirmation that Stokes had called time on his Test career was accompanied by the man himself seeking to write his own eulogy. The events of this fourth afternoon might come to be seen as his most performative ‘f*** you’ to the establishment, although more explicit versions could be in the offing once this Test is over.”
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