'We are not cars...': England star player Ben Stokes slams hectic cricket schedule
English cricketer Ben Stokes Monday stunned his fans announcing his retirement at the age of 31 from the One Day Internationals (ODIs) citing the workload stemming from three formats of the game.
Stokes has now slammed the hectic cricket schedule for drying up the energy of the players, who are constantly hustling across three formats, Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
Speaking to BBC's Test Match Special, Stokes said, "I always want to contribute to the team, be on it 100% of the time. We are not cars where you can fill us up with petrol and let us go. It has an effect on you, the playing, the travel, it does add up.
"As I said, the schedule at the moment seems very jam-packed and it's asking a lot of the players to keep putting in 100 percent of effort every time they walk onto the field."
❤️🏴 pic.twitter.com/xTS5oNfN2j
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 18, 2022
Stokes, who leads England in the longest format of the game, scored 2,876 runs in 105 ODI matches.
The allrounder, whose knock helped England to win the 2019 World Cup, made his ODI debut in 2011.
Announcing his retirement on Twitter, Stokes Monday said in a statement, "Three formats are just unsustainable for me now. Not only do I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us, but I also feel that I am taking the place of another player who can give Jos and the rest of the team their all."
"It's time for someone else to progress as a cricketer and make incredible memories like I have over the past 11 years," he added.
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