ICC World Cup 2023: Will Ben Stokes come out of retirement to aid England?

England is hopeful of its star all-rounder Ben Stokes coming out of retirement from One-Day International (ODI) cricket in time for its title defence at the 2023 ICC World Cup in India. Stokes played a critical role in England's recent ICC World Cup Final triumphs. While he incised an unbeaten 53 versus Pakistan in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup Final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday, he was unbeaten on 92 versus New Zealand during the title clash of the 50-over WC at the historic Lord's in 2019. However, the 31-year-old Test captain retired from the ODIs earlier this year, declaring that playing all three formats of the sport was becoming "unsustainable" for him.

England's limited-overs head coach Matthew Mott expects to sway Stokes to flip his ODI retirement. "When he spoke to me about his ODI retirement, one of the first things I said was that I'd back any decision he made. But, I told him he didn't necessarily have to retire - he could not play 50-overs for a while," Mott informed the media, reports PTI.

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"I did say you could always unretire. That's his [Stokes] decision. It's going to be a World Cup year, and we don't play much T20 cricket for a while, but it will be a decision that's up to him," added Mott. He expressed that the all-rounder is a vital cog in England's outline of things in the limited-overs format.

"The more we can get him [Stokes] is excellent. He's doing a fantastic job with the Test captaincy, but he will be a massive cog in the wheel when he returns to white-ball. He's a three-dimensional player, and he has so much to offer. In this team, he was the glue," Mott continued.

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"I think we have a lot of guys who can do extraordinary things, but he was the player you knew that if he were in, you'd win the game," concluded Mott. Stokes could put his name in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction in Kochi on December 23, having missed out on the last two seasons.