Tim Paine, the former Australian Test captain, has laid criticism on Ben Stokes for taking back his ODI retirement, in an interview with SEN Tassie. The 38-year-old went on to question the intentions of the English cricketing superstar while making a point about Harry Brook getting dropped from the provisional ODI World Cup 2023 in favour of him.
In July 2022, Ben Stokes announced his shock retirement from the ODIs, citing workload issues and a desire to focus solely on the Test format as the new full-time captain. But now, with his return in the 50 overs format during the build-up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, England is going to get a major boost in their quest to retain the coveted title, after winning it against New Zealand at home in 2019.
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In his interview with SEN Tassie, Tim Paine found the u-turn from Ben Stokes “interesting,” while implying the selfishness on his part to pick and choose big tournaments to play in. He said, as per the IANS, “Ben Stokes coming out of one-day retirement, I found that interesting. It was a bit of, ‘Me, me, me’, there, isn’t it? It was, ‘I'll pick and I'll choose where I want to play and when I want to play’, and, ‘I'll play in the big tournaments’.”
“The guys who played for 12 months, ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now?’,” opined the former Australian wicket-keeper batter. He also took the example of Harry Brook, calling him a direct challenger to Ben Stokes in the ODIs, if the English all-rounder doesn’t bowl.
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Tim Paine was quoted as saying, “I don't know, he's not bowling. Harry Brook or Ben Stokes? As a bat. It would be very close, very, very close. He also talked about favourites for the ODI World Cup 2023 and said, “Probably (England are now favourites), them and India. I think the Aussies if they can get hot (they can also win).”
