England cricket team all-rounder Ben Stokes announced his retirement from One Day International cricket on Monday, July 18, and played his final ODI against South Africa on Tuesday, July 19.
Stokes could manage just five runs in his swansong ODI fixture at his home ground of Durham as England fell short by 62 runs while chasing 334 against South Africa. On the bowling front, the all-rounder registered a haul of 0/44.
The 31-year-old, who was born in Christchurch in New Zealand but raised in the town of Cockermouth in England, made his ODI debut against Ireland in August 2011 and has since been one of their top performers in the 50-overs format.
During his 11-year career in ODI cricket, Ben Stokes featured in 105 games and played a crucial role in England winning their first 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 at home.
One of the top performing all-rounders across all formats, Ben Stokes has always delivered for England in crunch situations in 50-overs cricket. With this in mind, we take a look at some Ben Stokes’ ODI records and achievements.
Total runs and wickets in ODI cricket
Ben Stokes has aggregated 2,924 runs and 74 wickets in 105 ODIs.
With the bat, the left-hander has three centuries and 21 fifties at an average of 38.98 and a strike rate of 95.08 since his ODI debut in 2011.
As far as his bowling is concerned, Stokes has an economy rate of 6.05 with one five-wicket and one four-wicket haul in 50-over cricket.
Highest individual score in ODI cricket
Ben Stokes’ top performance with the bat in ODI cricket came against Australia in a 2017 ICC Champions Trophy match at Birmingham. The all-rounder hit an unbeaten 102 off 109 balls.
Stokes smashed as many as 13 boundaries as he guided England - who were 35 for three at one point - to a score of 240/4, which helped the Three Lions win the fixture by 40 runs on DLS.
Among his top 10 high scores in ODI cricket, Ben Stokes’ unbeaten 84 in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s will be his most fondly remembered 50-over innings.
Set a target of 242 to chase, hosts England were reduced to 71/3 in 19.3 overs before Stokes arrived to bat. Coming in to bat at number five, the all-rounder would remain unbeaten as he slammed five boundaries and two sixes in his 98-ball composed knock to help England tie New Zealand’s score at 241 and take the CWC final to a Super Over.
With 15 runs still needed in the Super Over, Ben Stokes slammed eight of the total runs required and helped England win the final. He was adjudged the Player of the Match for his heroics.
Best bowling figures in ODI cricket
Ben Stokes registered his best bowling figures of 5/61 against Australia in 2013.
While Australia opted to bat first, Stokes grabbed the back-to-back wickets of Aaron Finch (26) and Matthew Wade (0) in the Southampton ODI to reduce the visitors to 48/3 in 9.5 overs.
His other victims were Shane Watson (143), Adam Voges (8) and Mitchell Johnson (2).
Stokes’ impressive spell with the ball, however, was in a losing cause as England (249) fell short of Australia’s 298 by 49 runs.
Author: William Paul
Featured photo: AFP / DIBYANGSHU SARKAR
