Sir Andrew Strauss criticises Ben Stokes for retiring mid-match

Sir Andrew Strauss has criticised Ben Stokes for announcing his retirement midway through a Test match, declaring it a “huge distraction” with the New Zealand series on the line.

Strauss, the former England captain, said that the nature of his retirement had not been in the team’s best interests.

“I hesitate to say this but I’m not convinced that the whole thing was orchestrated the right way,” Strauss wrote on LinkedIn. “It seems like a huge distraction to a team that was battling to avoid a series defeat and the cricket in the last session very much had an ‘end of term’ feel to it.

“Everyone has the right to bow out on their own terms, and no-one has earned that more than Ben, but announcing before or after the game seems like a more sensible approach. When you are in the middle of a match, the only thing that matters is the performance of the team.”

Michael Vaughan, writing in his Telegraph Sport column, agreed that the timing of Stokes’ exit was odd.

“I was completely taken aback when I heard the news of Ben Stokes’s retirement in the middle of Sunday afternoon. It seemed such random timing and such a bizarre way for one of England’s greatest cricketers to bow out.”

England are now on the brink of a first defeat in a home series of three matches or more since 2012.

Strauss, who is the only captain to lead England to No 1 in the Test rankings since 1959, announced his resignation from the captaincy and retirement in 2012, after the Test against South Africa at Lord’s. Before or during the Test he had given no indication that he was retiring.

Strauss, who presented Stokes with his first Test cap in 2013, also emphasised Stokes’s positive contribution to English cricket and how much he will be missed.

Strauss suggested that Stokes had reached a point where he could no longer cope with the strains of the role of Test captain. Stokes will retire after having led England in 43 Tests, the seventh most of any English skipper.

“I was dumbfounded yesterday when the whispers started coming out that Ben Stokes was about to announce his retirement. It was both shocking and perhaps inevitable at the same time. This is a guy that has given everything to the England shirt but also has worn his emotions on his sleeve throughout that journey. The truth is that the job just burns you out, especially if you take on as much responsibility as Ben did in the role.”

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