In 2022, England’s red-ball captain Ben Stokes made the decision to retire from One Day Internationals (ODIs) to manage his workload. Although there was speculation that he might consider a return ahead of the ODI World Cup scheduled to begin on October 5 in India, Stokes has firmly denied such possibilities.

As a key player for England, Stokes played a pivotal role in their victories at the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup, and his presence would have undoubtedly bolstered England’s chances in the 2023 mega event. However, the all-rounder has clarified that he has no intentions of coming out of ODI retirement and plans to go on a holiday after the Ashes.

“I’m retired. I’m going on holiday after this game [fifth Ashes Test] and that’s as far as I’m thinking,” Stokes stated, as quoted by ICC.

Stokes also acknowledged his current limitations as an all-rounder due to a long-standing knee issue, which has prevented him from bowling in the ongoing Ashes series since the second Test. Post-Ashes, he plans to engage in serious discussions with medical professionals to find a resolution and regain his ability to bowl without concerns about his knee.

“It’s something I obviously want to get sorted. The times in which I’ve seen specialists and stuff like that there has been cricket around. So, as it’s been manageable, we’ve just cracked on. But I think that is a good time to have some serious conversations with medics around what is potentially something I could do to get a role in which I can bowl without having to worry about my knee. Those are conversations we will be able to have in that time off,” he explained.

Looking ahead, Stokes expressed his ambition to win the Ashes in Australia in 2025. Despite not being able to clinch the series at home this year, he remains hopeful for the next encounter in Australia.

“I mean obviously how this series has gone and how close we were it does make you think when we go to Australia do we have a better chance than the last few times we’ve been there? Hopefully, it’d be nice to go out to Australia in 2025 and have a good chance of winning. It would be nice to say I’ve won it twice. There’s obviously a lot of cricket that’s played around the Ashes as well, but we’ll just see when 2025 comes around,” Stokes revealed.