Before the ODI World Cup, Ben Stokes’ tweet with the ‘Lol’ emoticon in tribute to Moeen Ali has England Cricket in raptures. Three syllables in one word. Just before England’s maiden ODI World Cup campaign as defending champions, that was all it was and all that might have altered the tone of English cricket.
‘Lol’. It was what Moeen Ali had written in response to the question “Ashes?” posed by the Test captain of England. A discussion that led the all-rounder to reverse his decision to retire from Test cricket two years prior in order to be a part of the Ashes squad and play a crucial part in levelling the series at 2-2.
Ben Stokes used the three-letter term on Wednesday in his own poetic way in connection with all the discussions around his own comeback to play ODIs for England after quitting the 50-over game last year. This is because England included him in their preliminary roster of 15 players for the forthcoming competition in India.
England’s T20 and ODI head coach, Matthew Mott, recently said in an interview with The Daily Mail, “Ben’s quite straight with all of us, but Jos Buttler will probably lead the way on that communication. We’ll check on his interest.
Stokes played a significant role in the England team’s victory over New Zealand in the World Cup final at Lord’s, adding 84 runs to his tournament total of 465 runs.
However, England’s newly chosen Test captain would later say that playing in all three formats was no longer “sustainable” in July 2022. As difficult as it was to make this decision, he would write, “it’s not as difficult dealing with the fact that I can’t give my teammates 100% of myself in this format anymore.”
