'It is a joke' - Ben Stokes comes hard at rigorous international schedule after ODI retirement

Ben Stokes stunned the cricketing fraternity with his sudden retirement from ODI cricket last month. At 31, Stokes remains one of the fittest cricketers in the modern-era and a vital cog for England across formats. Hence, his retirement from the 50-over format raised a lot of eyebrows as many questioned the relevance of the shorter format and slammed the rigorous international schedule.

Ahead of the launch of his documentary 'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes', all-rounder Stokes opened up on his ODI retirement decision and came hard at the international scheduling by calling it 'ridiculous'.Speaking to the Mirror, the England Test captain said, "The schedule is so jam-packed. In my opinion it is just wrong that in the top level of sport you are looking so far ahead as to when you can stop. I know I can’t play all this cricket, it is a joke. The fact that series’ are overlapping is ridiculous. To have a Test series and one day series going on at the same time is just mind blowing to me."

“In the latest white ball series they had no time to train. That in itself is just wow. That should be an eye opener to people," he added.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

ALSO READ |England Test skipper Ben Stokes reveals he needs anxiety drugs to deal with father's death

Stokes made an interesting point that when top and elite cricketers are not playing regularly -- due to rest or personal reasons -- the game is not providing as much entertainment and enrichment to the followers of the game. Thus, he has called for the ones who are planning the schedules to have a hard look at the reality and revamp their approach. “That is where people putting these schedules together need to look at themselves and wonder ‘are we asking too much of the players to be doing this?’” he added.