'We are not cars': Ben Stokes's scathing comments about 'silly' schedule, 'Too much cricket rammed in'

Ben Stokes had stated that he was retiring from ODI cricket as playing all formats of the game was no longer sustainable form the all-rounder.

Ben Stokes announced his retirement from ODI cricket on Monday at the age of 31, making England's first match against South Africa on Tuesday his last in the format. Stokes had said in his statement that the grueling international schedule had made it “unsustainable” for him to be playing all three formats of the game.

Stokes played his last ODI on Tuesday (Action Images via Reuters)

The England Test captain had made a veiled a dig at the International Cricket Council's (ICC) scheduling in the statement he had made announcing his retirement but he later elaborated on the concerns he has for the future of the sport of this continued.

“The more cricket that is played, the better for the sport, but you want a product that is of the highest quality. You want the best players to be playing as much as you possibly can, all the time,” Stokes told BBC's Test Match Special.

"It isn't just me or us, you see it all around the world now where teams are having to rest some players in a certain series so they feel like they are getting a break. We are not cars, you can't just fill us up and we'll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again."

Tuesday's game came midway through a gruelling England programme of 12 white-ball fixtures in 25 days this month, with the Test team playing seven matches in the 2022 home season.

Stokes, highlighting a fixture pile-up that saw England's three-match ODI series away to the Netherlands take place in the brief gap between the second and third Tests against New Zealand, added: "We had a Test series and then the one-day team had a series going on at the same time that was a bit silly."