‘Bit of me, me’: Ex-Australia captain hits out at Ben Stokes for coming out of ODI retirement to play World Cup

Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine has strongly criticized England Test captain Ben Stokes for his decision to come out of retirement and participate in the World Cup. Paine argues that Stokes cannot simply cherry-pick the events he wants to play in. 

Last year, at the age of 32, Stokes announced his retirement from One Day Internationals (ODIs), citing the difficulty of balancing three different formats of the game. However, he recently reversed his decision and joined the 15-member England squad for a limited-overs series against New Zealand, which serves as a preparation for the upcoming World Cup in India.

While England is thrilled about the return of the all-rounder to the ODI side before the World Cup in India, commencing on October 5th, Paine suggested that Stokes was displaying selfish behavior.

“Ben Stokes coming out of one day retirement, I found that interesting,” Paine said on Sen Radio.

“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’.” 

Paine opined that England cricketers, who had been slogging for 12 months waiting to play in the World Cup, will have to sit out to make way for Stokes.

“The guys who played for 12 months, ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now?’,” said Paine.

Stokes has been selected as part of the 15-member squad to compete against the touring New Zealand team in the upcoming limited-overs series in September. Due to his persistent knee injury, he is expected to contribute primarily as a specialist batter rather than a bowler.

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