Ben Stokes says he has “no idea” if England’s final World Cup outing will also be his farewell to one-day internationals.
Stokes retired from the 50-over format in 2022 citing an unsustainable workload, only to be tempted back to take part in England’s title defence.
Things have veered badly off script since he arrived in India, where he missed the first three matches with a hip injury and was unable to stop his side crashing out after six defeats from seven games.
But the man who did more than anyone to make England world champions at Lord’s four years ago offered a reminder of his talents with a match-winning century against the Netherlands on Wednesday.
England were grateful Stokes did not bring forward an upcoming knee operation once the semi-finals were out of reach – a notion he rejected out of hand with the mantra “never leave early, never take the easy way out, never leave your team-mates hanging” – but Saturday’s engagement with Pakistan will surely be his last stand.
With his primary focus on his role as Test captain, a T20 World Cup next summer and a period of post-surgery rehabilitation coming up, he is already being stretched thin.
But, asked directly if he was set for a second retirement, he kept his cards close to his chest.
“I’ve no idea,” he said.
“I’m sure there will be a conversation but I don’t know when that will be. I have used the time between games here to give myself a better opportunity after the surgery.
“All the work in the gym doesn’t compare to what you go through out there. I’m looking forward to getting it sorted and not having to worry like I have these past 18 months. From a physical point of view I’m better off than when I first got out here, but physical fitness and cricket fitness are two different things.”
Stokes had hoped to add another triumphant chapter to his World Cup story, adding to his starring roles in the 2019 final and the T20 success in Melbourne last autumn, but is now playing for a significantly lesser prize.
A 160-run win over the Dutch put England back on track to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, with a top-eight finish needed to book their place at the competition.
Victory over semi-final hopefuls Pakistan should be enough to make it official and, even if that gets Stokes’ competitive juices flowing again, he will be leaving unfulfilled.
“If I’m there or not – who knows – I don’t think leaving here there’s any satisfaction for anyone to be honest, it’s been a very disappointing World Cup,” he said.
“We know we have performed nowhere near as well as we should have done at this World Cup. It was bittersweet to walk off with a victory because everything feels a lot better but we’re still very disappointed with how we’ve gone as a side.
“Unfortunately it’s not happened for us but we know how big this Pakistan game is. They are a quality team and we know the threat they pose to every team before a ball is bowled.
“There’s one massive game left for the future, with another tournament coming up. It’s not just a game to finish off a World Cup then go home, we’d love to leave with a winning feeling.”
IPL: Royals downed by big-hitting Capitals
Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down the Delhi Capitals, who claimed a 20-run victory in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
Sanju Samson struck 86 off 46 balls for the second-placed Royals, but the Capitals successfully defended their haul of 221.
Jake Fraser-McGurk's 20-ball 50 set the tone for the Capitals, who are well in the play-off hunt with two matches remaining.
Fellow opener Abishek Porel plundered 65, with Tristan Stubbs adding a useful 41 towards the end of the innings, with Ravichandran Ashwin (3-24) the only Royals bowler to do significant damage.
Kuldeep Yadav (2-25) and Mukesh Kumar (2-30) led the way with the ball for Delhi, with the latter taking the vital wicket of Samson in the 16th over, leaving the Royals with too much to do from 162-4.
Delhi have won three of their last four matches and are making a late run for the play-offs, as one of four teams tied on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Samson soars
It took Samson just 31 minutes to amass 86 runs before he was eventually dismissed, with the loss of his wicket all but ending the Royals' hopes.
In the process, he moved into third place in the IPL run-scorers chart, up from 11th, with 471 runs to his name this season. He trails only Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) and Virat Kohli (542).
Seales takes 5-29 in second innings to help Sussex complete innings and 124-run rout of Derbyshire
Jayden Seales is now the leading wicket-taker after five rounds of the County Championship Division Two after another stellar performance to help Sussex rout Derbyshire by an innings and 124 runs at the County Ground in Derby from May 3-5.
Seales took 1-54 from 14 overs in the first innings as Derbyshire were bowled out for 246 in 63.3 overs after Sussex won the toss.
Luis Reece (50), Blair Tickner (47) and Aneurin Donald (44) were the top run-scorers against 2-6 from James Coles and 2-65, each, from Ollie Robinson and Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Cheteshwar Pujara then starred with the bat with 113 off 186 balls as Sussex piled up 479 off 109.4 overs in their first innings.
James Coles (72), Tom Alsop (64) and Tom Haines (58) provided good support for Pujara against three-wicket hauls from Daryn Dupavillon and Jack Morley.
Seales then produced an excellent spell of bowling to help restrict Derbyshire to just 109 all out in 26 overs.
He took 5-29 from his eight overs, taking his tally this season to 18 in four games. Danny Lamb also bowled well with 2-10 from four overs.
Full Scores: Derbyshire 246 off 63.3 overs (Luis Reece 50, Blair Tickner 47, Aneurin Donald 44, James Coles 2-6, Ollie Robinson 2-65, Fynn Hudson-Prentice 2-65) & 109 off 26 overs (Jayden Seales 5-29, Danny Lamb 2-10)
Sussex 479 off 109.4 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 113, James Coles 72, Tom Alsop 64, Tom Haines 58, Daryn Dupavillon 3-89, Jack Morley 3-117, Luis Reece 2-32)
IPL: Yadav century ends Mumbai's losing streak in style
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.
Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).
Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.
Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.
Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show
This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.
He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli.
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