It was a strangely unsatisfying, unedifying way to end one of the great Test careers.
Ben Stokes’s retirement was announced over loudspeakers at Trent Bridge in the midst of an almighty 11-over spell of bowling, and the attention shifted away from New Zealand’s deserved series victory to England’s captain. Stokes received guards of honour and later opened the batting, flailing for sixes, swinging at the sun. It was like the game had descended into a one-man ego trip, as if Stokes might perform the “Siuuu” at any moment.
If Stokes’s 30 off 20 balls set the tone for England’s fourth-innings chase, then that tone was self-sabotage. England abandoned all sense. It was 6pm in Nottingham and Stokes had ushered in the last days of Rome, headless bloodlust, Test cricket depravity, Harry Brook debauching the ball to fine leg – leading Michael Vaughan to describe his effort as “an absolutely pathetic Test match innings”. In doing so, Brook made a compelling case for not being Stokes’ successor.
That bizarre finale – has a cricketer ever retired between overs before? – will not diminish what Stokes achieved for England. The numbers might not sound stratospheric: a bowling average of 31; a batting average of 34, in line with Ollie Pope. Then again, only one other player, Jacques Kallis, has surpassed both 7,000 Test runs and 250 wickets.
But Stokes didn’t play cricket by numbers. His famous Headingley innings alongside the obdurate Jack Leach in 2019 was a moment of eternal sport and national meaning not because he scored 135 runs but because of how it felt to watch every agonising ball, how it defied all logic. His gift was to make every England fan place their faith in the improbable, the unfathomable, the previously untouchable. Then he went out and proved they were right to believe.
There was the breathtaking 2019 World Cup final, the rapid 258 against South Africa, the outrageous catches. Evidence of cricket beyond reason mounted up, so when Stokes took over the captaincy and said England could chase down 300 runs in the fourth innings of Test matches, and actively chose to field first, possibility rippled through the stands and in the dressing room too. He may not be the perfect captain, but no other player could have carried England on that ride.
He retires as a rare kind of English Test cricket superstar, perhaps the last of his kind, given the format’s shrinking platform. In that summer of 2019, the summer before the world’s walls closed in, Stokes broke new bounds. He was the best cricketer on the planet, perhaps the best athlete on the planet.
His legacy has since been coloured by the odd denouement to Bazball, which shone so brightly at first. McCullum was the name on the jar but Stokes was the secret sauce. It is a period that has taken a mental toll. There is an irony in Stokes falling out of love with his England role when the onus of the past four years has been on unfettered joy and entertainment.
McCullum and ECB director Rob Key have plenty to answer for. Perhaps the only reason to keep them after the Ashes was their close relationship with Stokes, but those relationships had become strained and now it is hard to see what either party brings without their talisman on the field. Is there even an argument that McCullum leaving the scene would make a dramatic Stokes return down the line more likely? Would an SOS call ahead of next summer’s Ashes, for example, be completely out of the question…?
When McCullum first took charge, he injected the new energy that England needed. Stuart Broad talked of feeling free and inspired, Joe Root spoke of seeing cricket in a whole new light. McCullum gave drifting careers fresh purpose. But that was a 12-month job, and he hasn’t shown he can lead England to a higher level. He turns up to interviews in sliders and a backwards cap looking cool and calm when they’re winning, but can seem detached when they’re losing.
Key does not seem to have the answers either. Failing to prepare the team for the actual Ashes was a red flag against the entire hierarchy and the fact that heads didn’t roll following that winter debacle on and off the field remains baffling. Key is passionate about the job but his ability to say words while saying nothing much at all is impressive and troubling in equal measure.
England have stalled. They are fourth in the Test rankings, about to lose a home series to the team ranked fifth, a first home defeat in a series of at least three Tests since 2012. Their free-wheeling approach has lost its way, and Stokes’ departure will leave a void of leadership, of character, of talent, even of intrigue.
Stokes, McCullum and Key came as a trio, and for all Stokes’ flaws, it is hard to escape the feeling England are losing the wrong one.
