England white ball coach Matthew Mott recently insisted that they will not pressure Ben Stokes to return to international one-day cricket. Mott revealed that he is still in touch with the all-rounder and will see how his body feels mentally and physically.
Stokes, one of England’s pivotal members of the 2019 World Cup-winning side, has announced his retirement from international cricket over 50 in July 2022, citing an unsustainable schedule.
He played his ODI final against South Africa at Chester-le-Street, falling by single digit scores to part-timer Aiden Markram.
Ahead of England’s World Cup defense in India later this year, the 49-year-old said he is unsure if or when Ben Stokes intends to return to ODI cricket. As quoted by Sky Sports, he stated:
“I’m still in contact with him, but the issue of when he wants to play, we don’t need to know for a while. The worst thing we can do is try to push him early to make a decision.” I’ll just see how his body holds up and how he feels physically and mentally.”
Matthew Mott also highlighted that Liam Livingstone is also firmly in the mix, given his hard-hitting abilities and leg-spinning are likely to be a handful on Indian surfaces.
“I don’t see many other players like him to be honest,” he continued. “He’s a spin bowler who can bowl 10 overs in an ODI. If you’ve got right-handers and left-handers, he’s not exposed at all. He’s a weapon. The way he can bat in white-ball cricket, knowing we can bowl him at any opportunity , and he’s not just a slogger, he’s a proper hitter. He’s a unique player.”
Livingstone suffered a knee injury during the tour of Pakistan in December and has not played since. However, he hopes to return to action during the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Punjab Kings and hopes to press his case for the World Cup.
“He’s a box office player” – Matthew Mott on pacemaker Jofra Archer
Matthew Mott further underlined that he is incredibly excited to see Jofra Archer return to full speed ahead of Ashes and the World Cup, especially after promising signs since returning to international cricket in January.
“He’s a box office player,” he added. “He’s fit back into the group wonderfully and it’s an incredible effort for a fast pitcher to be out for so long and come back and play like he has.
“He would admit he’s not fully working on all cylinders. You can see he’s checking all the boxes to get back to his best. He just seems to be very slow, strategically just making sure he’s getting it right and ticking and coming.” the Ashes, come the World Cup, I’m sure you’ll see him return to his best level.”
Although Jofra Archer posted figures of 10-0-81-1 on her return, she turned in a six for in her next game to lead England to a convincing victory.