England Lost the First Match of the ODI Series With South Africa
The second summer month for the England national team started very fine: earlier this month, the “team of three lions” confidently beat India in a test match. But then the team from the Foggy Albion had a serious decline, which hit the results of the team hard — England lost the first match of the ODI series with South Africa.
It should be recalled that earlier, the England national team held two series in white-ball formats against the India national team: first, England lost to Rahul Dravid’s team in the T20 series (1-2), and then there was a defeat with a similar score in the ODI series (1-2).
It seemed that in the series with the South Africa national team, the British would be able to recoup in front of their fans for the recent defeats, but Matthew Mott’s guys could not confront this rival.
Note that the England national team still has a chance to change the events of this series. And England, which currently occupies the second place in the ODI world ranking, clearly does not want to lose another series of confrontations so as not to embarrass themselves in front of their fans.
Ben Stokes Announces He is Retiring from ODI
It should be noted that before the start of the first match of the ODI series with South Africa, Ben Stokes announced that he was retiring from ODI to focus on the test format and T20.
This decision did not come as too much of a surprise, as Ben Stokes had previously spoken about his desire to focus on two variations of the game. Still, hardly anyone could have guessed that Ben would make this difficult decision now.
“I will play my last match for England in the ODI format on Tuesday. I decided to leave this format. It was a very difficult decision. I enjoyed every minute of the game with my teammates. We had an incredible journey,” Ben Stokes said before the start of the first match of the series with South Africa.
Ben Stokes’ contract will be reviewed
Robert Key, managing director of the England cricket team, said that Ben Stokes’ contract would be reviewed. Rob stated that he takes Stokes’ decision for granted — Key is convinced that Ben Stokes’ departure from the ODI format will help add to England’s TEST and Twenty20 formats.
Also, Robert did not miss the opportunity to praise Ben for making an informed decision that could help both the player and the England national team over a distance of several years.
“Of course, Ben’s departure from ODI forces us to review his contract — it could have financial implications for Stokes. In fact, I think Ben deserves credit — not every player is capable of making such a difficult decision. He did it, and no one can blame him,” Robert says.
It is likely that the departure of Ben Stokes from the ODI format will really have a positive impact on the England team: Jos Buttler, the captain of the team in the white ball formats, gets sole power in the ODI, and Ben himself will be able to concentrate all his forces, which do not become more with age, on those formats that, in his opinion, are more suitable for him.
