Ben Stokes has said retiring from international cricket is the “best decision” for him after revealing England’s final Test against New Zealand will be his last.
The 35-year-old, one of the greatest cricketers to ever play for England, made the stunning announcement on the fourth day of the crucial Test at Trent Bridge.
This means his international career will end on Monday after 15 years, 122 Tests, 114 one-day internationals and 43 T20s.
“It may sound quite selfish, but this decision really is the best thing for me at the moment,” Stokes told Sky Sports.
“I hope this is the best decision for the team moving forward, but I also hope it allows me to continue to love this game that has given me so much.”
The all-rounder denies the decision was made as a result of events over the past three weeks, when he was unavailable for England’s second Test against New Zealand following an incident at a London nightclub.
Instead, he said he considered retiring after England’s 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, and he had further thoughts of retiring during the first summer Test at Lord’s.
“For me, ‘Test of the Lord’ brought back negative feelings about where I was in my career,” he said.
“I’ve been working so hard since I got home (from Australia) to get everything right, or at least that’s what I thought. I spent so much time and effort on it that I just burned myself out.”
However, Stokes confirmed that the nightclub controversy had “increased” thoughts about the timing of the call.
“It was the beginning, the way things were all week at Lord’s and then another moment when I was sitting next to Joe Root in the dressing room,” he said.
“Obviously there was another scenario that happened that added to this. It’s never been easy with me, has it? It was an unfortunate situation to be in over the last two weeks.”