The England allrounder Ben Stokes, who recently announced his retirement from ODI cricket, has criticized cricket administrators for packing the cricket calendar the whole year and not giving the players enough space for a break so that they can freshen themselves.
Ben Stokes was talking to a BBC test match special ahead of his final ODI yesterday and when he was asked how much of England’s packed schedule this year would have had a role to play in his ODI retirement, Stokes said that the administrators will have to understand that the players are not cars.
If a car stops running, you take the car to the fuel station, fuel it up and it’s ready to run again. That can’t be the case with players. Ben Stokes then referred to the ODI series between England and Netherlands which was scheduled between the second and the third test match between England and New Zealand.
Calling that kind of scheduling silly, Stokes said that it’s not just happening in England’s case. It’s happening all around the world where the players are being rested and rotated in between a season to give them a sense of break. The team keeps playing and the players are rested. That’s not a break.
The schedule was not this hectic when I first started playing: Ben Stokes
Recalling the time when he had started playing international cricket, Stokes said that the schedule was not hectic at that time and he didn’t have any issues playing all three formats. But, now he thinks he can’t do it anymore because there are just so many games.
Ben Stokes had not played in the IPL last season, but now that he has retired from ODI cricket and has earned some more free time for himself in between a packed cricket calendar, it will be interesting to see if he signs up for the IPL auction next year or not.
