Matthew Mott hopeful of Ben Stokes’ return to ODI cricket
England’s red-ball skipper Ben Stokes stood tall in the face of adversity to guide his side to their second T20 World Cup title, registering his maiden T20I half-century against Pakistan in the final. Following his heroics in the finale at the MCG, England’s head coach Matthew Mott is hopeful that the mercurial all-rounder will come out of ODI retirement for the World Cup next year.
Ben Stokes, who announced his ODI retirement earlier this year amidst a hectic cricketing schedule, has been urged to reverse his decision in order to feature in the World Cup next year. Mott believes that Stokes is crucial for the side’s chances as he brings a winning mentality to the team.
“He’s a three-dimensional player, and he has so much to offer. In this team, he was the glue – I think we have a lot of guys who can do extraordinary things, but he was the player you knew that if he was in you’d win the game,” Matthew Mott said after England’s triumphant WC campaign in Australia.
“When he spoke to me about his ODI retirement one of the first things I said was that I’d back any decision he made, but I said to him he didn’t necessarily have to retire, he could just not play 50-overs for a while. And I said: ‘You could always unretire.’
He’ll do what’s right for English cricket and he always has: Matthew Mott
However, Mott remarked that the decision is up to Stokes and he will make the right decision for the team. Stokes retired from ODIs sighting that he wasn’t contributing enough to Jos Buttler’s side and wanted to give an opportunity to the more deserving players in the English white-ball setup.
“I’ll let him dust off today. He’s his own man and he’ll make his own decisions. He’ll do what’s right for English cricket and he always has. That was part of his decision to retire from ODI cricket. He didn’t think he could give it his all and credit to him for making that decision because he’s such a special commodity for English cricket. We want what’s best for the whole system as well,” Mott added.
