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Cricket Players'I retired from ODIs and ECB banned me from T20Is too': England legend's brutal dig at board after Stokes' announcement
Ben Stokes had announced his decision to retire from ODIs on Monday, insisting that it is “unsustainable” for him to continue in all three formats of the game.
On Monday, Ben Stokes made a shocking announcement to retire from the ODIs. The England all-rounder insisted that playing all the three formats of the game is "unsustainable" for him, adding that the packed schedule is draining his fitness. Stokes played his final ODI on Tuesday against South Africa, but endured a poor outing (0/44 and 5) as England faced a crushing 62-run loss in Chester-le-street.
Following Stokes' announcement, there were significant discussions on social media over the tight schedules of international cricketers, as well as the downward slope in the popularity of ODIs. Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen also joined the debate, as he recalled his own decision to retire from ODIs due to fatigue. However, he stirred the pot about the incidents that led to his untimely departure from the game, as Pietersen took a subtle dig at the England and Wales Cricket Board.
“I once said the schedule was horrendous and I couldn’t cope, so I retired from ODI cricket & the ECB banned me from T20s too………….,” Pietersen wrote.
Pietersen had called time on his ODI career in May 2012 adding that he “would have readily played” for the national team in the T20 World Cup scheduled later that year. However, the ECB selection policy eventually barred him from playing in the shortest format of the game as well.
"As the programming and planning for ODI and T20 format cricket are very closely linked we have a selection policy that means that any player making himself unavailable for either of the one-day formats rules himself out of consideration for both formats. The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads," Hugh Morris, then-managing director of the ECB, had said in a statement following Pietersen's announcement.
Ben Stokes, meanwhile, is currently the captain of England's Test team and made a bright start to his leadership stint last month. Under his captaincy, England clean-swept New Zealand 3-0 before beating India in the rescheduled fifth Test of the series by 7 wickets, as the side drew the series 2-2.
