Ben Stokes is the best player we’ve ever produced as a country: Joe Root | Cricket News
The return of Ben Stokes in the preliminary England ODI World Cup squad has been the biggest talk of the cricket town ahead of the marquee tournament later this year. Former England Test captain Joe Root knows just how big that boost is for the entire squad and how it concerns the opposition sides.
“You know every other international team are looking thinking, ‘Damn, I thought we got rid of him!’ At the same time, it fills the rest of the squad with confidence, knowing you’ve got a proven match-winner who will always seek out those big moments,” Root told ESPN Cricinfo.
“You look at the two World Cup finals we won, and he won for us. Even the one we lost against West Indies in 2016, he still took on the big moment – he wanted that final over. To be able to come back from that in the manner that he has and deliver some of the things he has done in an England shirt is a testament to what a legend he is in the game. Probably, I think, the best player we’ve ever produced as a country,” he added.
It was in July 2022 that England’s newly appointed Test skipper would state that it was no longer ‘sustainable’ for him to play in all three formats. “As hard as a decision as this was to come to, it’s not as hard dealing with the fact I can’t give my teammates 100 per cent of myself in this format anymore,” he’d write.
His U-turn from retirement was hinted in England’s ODI and T20I head coach Matthew Mott’s recent interview with The Daily Mail, in which he stated, “Jos Buttler will probably lead the way on that communication, but Ben’s pretty straight with all of us. We will see if he’s keen.”Most Read
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When asked if he had any role to play in convincing Stokes to make his return to the ODI setup, Root comedically responded, “It’s got nothing to do with me! Are you joking? Did you not see my tenure as captain, the amount of times I would tell him to stop bowling and he would tell me to f*** off?! I didn’t see the point in even trying!”
Stokes was a key member of the England side that won the 2019 World Cup at home, scoring 465 runs in the tournament including his 84* in the final against New Zealand at Lord’s.
Of all the three formats, Stokes best averages across ODIs (39) and has 2924 runs at a strike rate of 95.1 across 90 innings.
