The door is open for Stokes to end his ODI retirement and play in the World Cup.
,
LONDON: Whiteball coach Matthew Mott has said it is time for Test captain Ben Stokes to end his retirement from one-day internationals and join England’s title defense at the 50-over World Cup in India later this year. The doors are open.
Stokes was named player of the match in the 2019 World Cup final when England beat New Zealand at Lord’s and was the top scorer in last year’s T20 World Cup final in Australia.
He had decided to quit one-day cricket last year, citing his workload, but Mott said he would be happy to discuss the situation if things changed before the World Cup in October-November. “The door is always open for a player of this quality but we are also very aware that his main focus is as The captain is red ball cricket.”
“We respect that and when he’s ready to talk, we will.” Mott said he had discussed the matter with limited-overs captain Jos Buttler and England men’s director of cricket Rob Kay and had not set a cut-off date for Stokes to make up his mind. “We need to be really flexible, open minded to the players and when we sit down to pick that 15 for the World Cup we want to pick the best players,” he added.
Opener Gill’s maturity impressed India captain Rohit.
Ahead of the series against South Africa, Mott said fit-again speedster Jofra Archer was “ready to play” after nearly two years on the sidelines.
“Having watched him from afar, I think he’s one of the most exciting things to happen in cricket in the last decade,” Mott said. “The best I can say is we have a general plan of what it (Archer’s schedule) looks like. “We’ll work with him through it, see how his body is. How is it coping? I definitely think that is a high priority and will be manageable.
