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England head coach Brendon McCullum has revealed that he asked Ben Stokes to ‘slow down’ and reconsider the retirement decision, but the latter was persistent and said that he didn’t have it in him to continue further.
Stokes announced his retirement from international cricket on Sunday, June 28, during Day 4 of the Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand. Just hours after confirming the decision, he walked out to open the batting in his final international innings, scoring a brisk 30 off 20 deliveries.
Stokes’ international career, however, ended on a disappointing note on Monday as England lost the series-deciding Test to New Zealand, slipping to a 2-1 loss in the three-match series.
“Well, first of all, when he told me, I tried to talk him out
of it. I said, ‘Slow down. ’ I said, ‘Slow down, let us just think about this. And he said, ‘No, Baz, I am done. And then we sort of sat silent for about 10 seconds,” McCullum said while speaking on the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“And then I said, ‘I feel a bit sad. And he said, ’I know’. He said, ‘I am happy and I am content with everything. You know the time has come. I had a bit of an idea that this might happen,” McCullum added.
Stokes stunned fans and experts alike by announcing his retirement from international cricket on the fourth day of the Nottingham Test on Sunday, with the series still hanging in the balance.
Stokes, a middle-order batter, then opened the innings but holed out.
England lost three more wickets during their frantic chase of a daunting 373-run target before stumps on Sunday, leaving them on the brink of their first home series loss in a three-match-or-longer Test series since 2012.
After England’s 4-1 Ashes loss Down Under, which ended in January, McCullum and managing director Rob Key were given the backing of the England hierarchy to oversee the team’s rebuilding phase.
