Test Match Special - Stokes retires from international cricket

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

Simon Mann speaks to out-going England captain Ben Stokes as he announces his retirement from international cricket during the final Test match at Trent Bridge between England and New Zealand.Hear reaction from former England captains Michael Vaughan and Sir Alastair Cook, as well as Jonathan Agnew and Steven Finn.

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That's good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Now here's some news for you. I didn't think I'd be reading this out now at this very moment today, but Ben Stokes has announced his retirement as England's test captain and from international cricket. A crowd behind him now. Over the wicket he goes, bowls to folks. Edged and Cork.

Well, there's something both a messk about that. The first ball that Ben Stokes has delivered since announcing his retirement takes a wicket. Well, no ordinary day, as Ben Stokes surprised everyone and announced his international retirement. To come, we'll hear from Stokes, plus get reaction from Michael Vaughn, Sir Alistair Cook and Stephen Finn, plus a statistical appreciation from Andy Zaltzman. Stokes took that wicket just as the news of... his retirement came out and he then opened the batting making a quickfire 30. England will resume on 103 for 4, still needing 270 more to win,

but it's the Stokes News that dominated and Jonathan Agnew has been giving me his reaction. Well, I'll say it the whole day's been strange. It actually was fine until 325. When Ben Stokes were going to see marching around the boundary rope now, I don't think it'll come to us first, when the announcer was made that he was retiring. and there's been so much talk, isn't there, over the last 10 days or so,

ever since the post-lords celebrations, should we say, about all sorts of things, on and off the fields. And I just don't think anybody, all the names are being thrown around about what might happen, who's going to go, who's going to stay. I just don't think that, well, if they did, I certainly didn't hear anybody say, they thought that Ben Stokes would retire.

and certainly not at the start of the fourth day of a test match in which the series is hanging in the balance or the timing the timing is well i say unusual i think it's unprecedented so there's a lot that's very strange in the opening the batting and that was quite fun i suppose trying to knock a bit of a hole in the in the in the the target but you know this is this is a fairly bizarre way i mean england will lose a series tomorrow and this is all rather a bizarre way for the fourth day to end Was there any sense of inevitability this would happen after the events of the last couple of weeks and also his pre-match comments? He was asked about his future and he said, I'm just thinking about this match. Yeah, well I thought I didn't read too much into that because I think there was one match to go in this series. Then there was a break that he wasn't going to be playing in the 100 and so on.

I didn't read much into that maybe as much as perhaps I should have done but I just thought he was just this match is the focus. We'll get back on the rails again. We don't know. We still don't really know what happened behind the scenes, ECBY's curfew and all that. We still don't know what happened there. And whether this is the moment this evening or tomorrow at the end of this day, we actually we do find out a little bit more about that and his feelings about it. Because something has pushed him to go at a strange time.

And maybe we'll find out more. What did you think, Michael, when you hear the news? Completely shocked. I kind of think back to, you know, Ben Stokes over his years has given us some incredible joy. It's going to be greatly missed. And I guess great, great sports people do things a different way. That's why they're great. They play the game differently.

They think differently. They have a different mindset to many others. And I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but I'm with Aggers. I just want to know a little bit more. I want to hear from Ben. I want to hear from Ben in terms of the timing, why, when did he decide? You know, if it is that the incident in London pushed him over the age to make this decision a little bit early than the England side and all the fans and all of us who have followed the England team for many, many years, if he has been kind of almost put into a place where he's angry with certain quarters of the ECB and he's made an impulsive decision. I'd be very disappointed if that's the case.

Look, he might have just had enough. The fire might have just stopped. You know, you need fire to play test match cricket. you need that inner kind of drive and just maybe that has run out for Ben Stokes but I just find it very strange that it happens a week after where the whispers and the rumors that there were certain quarters of the ECB brief in certain elements that Ben Stokes should retire as the England captaincy as a captain and a week or so later he's back in the team and he's gone in his own accord I mean I suppose Jonathan you know what's next I mean does it therefore

query the pitch of the coach. You know, they come as a bit of a job lot, you know, Stokes and McCullum. And it's interesting, the way they've played today batting there, that was kind of basball again. And whether some people might read that as being a bit of a last hurrah.

I don't know. I don't think any of us know. What's going to happen? All I do know is you have to ask the question. This is going to be a reset. This series is about a reset. Getting back on the rails again, after that awful ashes campaign on and off the field.

Behaviour, performance, preparation, all of those things we've talked to are blue in the face. Are we better off, or we will be better off tomorrow when surely England will lose this game and lose the series? Are we better off then tomorrow, then we were at the start of the series? And the answer surely is no. England are not.

The reset has not worked. There's been off the field stuff. They've been beaten by a New Zealand team that are down to two bowlers here at them for goodness sake. They lost their best bats from who also retired midway through the series, which is also deemed a bit strange. But they're a good side, but they're not at full strength. And England will lose this series 2-1.

So has the reset worked? And the reset really was about Kean McCullum, in my mind. I think we all assumed at the start of this campaign that actually Stokes would remain. He was kind of the one banker and he was the other two who had something to prove. Well, I don't think it's improved at all. I mean, we're back, I don't think we're any better off tomorrow when we stand here reviewing England's defeat in the series than we were at the start of it. And the whole idea of the series was we were supposed to move forward. Well, Ben Stokes says he's, he was been thinking about it since the ashes and there's a sense of relief.

I mean, I guess that happens to all cricketers when they put so much into their career. When you stop, you think, oh, you know, there is that sense of relief there. There is, and yet there was that very powerful social media post that he put, put out saying how much he loved the job and wanted to get going again. He spoke quite positively actually I thought before this game about everything but I don't know. I've never been in that position myself. You talked to those two over there, Cook and Vaughn, they'll both say that that moment comes when they realize that they've had enough and they've got to move on.

I do think the ashes took a lot out of him. I think a lot of the criticism of that ashes took a lot out of him. I mean he was not himself. We've all had our little brushes with Ben during the the ashes in which he just wasn't himself at all. And that was their big opportunity. It felt like their big opportunity. They'd been building up to it for so long.

It felt so flat. They got it totally wrong. So whether that, you know, whether in hindsight, in retrospect, back home up north, he sat back back and thought, oh wow, how did we do that so wrong? Because they did get it wrong. And that wasn't said in hindsight from the people who were saying it was wrong. It was said long before they set off. So there was a lot about Australia that he would have taken badly.

I assumed, obviously wrongly now, but I assumed he'd want to put it right next summer and he'd want to have a great chance of winning here at home and being an Ashes winning captain which any England captain wants to be. They want to have that little tag at the end of their career statistics and he'll never have that now and that's a shame. And you think about its fitness which has been an issue but today Boltspell's of eight overs and eleven overs, 19 overs in the day and still have that enough left to come out and open the batting. Yeah, he looks as fit now as he ever has.

Yeah, I mean, exactly. I mean, he bowled brilliantly. And I said earlier on, the thing about what we'll miss from Stokes is that whenever Stokes was batting or bowling or in fact, anywhere, England had hope. Because he's pulled them out of the whole, you know, so many times in seemingly impossible situations. He was able somehow to inject that hope into the other players,

hope into the spectators. Yeah, Soakes is still there. He can do it. When he was out there, thrashing around there, opening the batting, he wasn't going to win the game for England, but still he felt he might. And that was sailed into the crowd for six. Is he going to perform a miracle?

He's done it before. And that's what we'll really miss, you know, those long spells of bowling that, you know, were full of, you know, even, even, I'm not trying to hear what they're singing, you know, even if they didn't, you know, ripped through with wickets, they were just wearing spells that only he could really produce. And England would miss that, but more than anything, I mean, what I will remember Ben Stokes for, which his ability, his, is his, his, his, his, his, his, calculating way of being able to chase down a target and put all the noise out, cut the

pressure out of the situation and everything else, and just be able to focus entirely on, on, on that run-shund And I've not seen, I don't think any other batsman as capable as doing that as Ben. Stephen Finn is here as well. How do you react to today's news, Finney? I think surprised. My first reaction was surprised because I think everyone saw that final carrot of a Home Asher series next summer. It felt like the natural end of this team's time together. But clearly I think the last six months have been more fraught than maybe even we realize as observers of the game.

and I think more will come out in the wash potentially, but that's all speculation. I mean, and then once you get over the initial shock, you think of Ben Stokes, the cricketer, and I was lucky enough to play with him and then watch him in the second part of his career. And he was just a man for the moment, and the moment in games, he would recognize it,

and whether it was with bat or ball or in the field, he would make sure that he took the response. responsibility to be the person who did the job for the team. And you felt that when you were playing with him, as soon as he stepped into the all-rounders role, when Trevor Bayliss said, you're not a number eight who bowls a bit, you're a number six, a proper number six, who is going to be our number one all-rounder

and trusted him with that. I think that was a turning point in his career to take responsibility with both bat and ball. And he's been an absolute talisman and the way he's led this team, especially through the first part when him and Brendan McCar, and came together, they transformed the way that we view and accept test match cricket in this country. And the last six months or so have been disappointing, yes, no more so for him than anyone else. But the memories are going to be amazing.

And as you stand here and think about all the amazing ones, more pop up in there as well. He was the most influential player in a cricket team that I played with. you just knew that he was going to influence the important part of games and that marks a great player. They're singing, well, they were, one more year over there, one more year. My answer was so long, we got through that song to another one. But what do you think about the timing? You know, there is an actually's only a year away. I just, honestly, I don't know.

I don't know. I feel as though more will come out. Can we read more into his statement to the dressing room that the, the video that came out of him talking to the team about I don't want to go into the reasons right now whether more will come out later about his frustration of the last few weeks or the last six months. I don't know. I can only speculate on that without any knowledge. But the timing is curious because like Agas says, that carrot of a home ashes, being an ashes winnings captain, leaving your, he has a legacy, but that's like the cherry on top, on top of the cake for a player like Ben Stokes to stand there at the Oval,

the urn and then walk away. For me that felt like his natural breaking point but it's come today. Yeah and also he you know him leaving now does leave England with a dilemma who is going to be the next captain and that is a problem given given that you know it was Harry Brooks misdemeanors that actually led to a lot of this curfew and everything else is he really ready to be test captain of England? I know he's the he's the whiteball captain and he starts on on Wednesday But there are a lot of people who'd be quite nervous about that. I would think the ECB, again, looking to improve the optics, if that's the right word, or at least the whole landscape of the England cricket team,

are they going to be confident that Harry Brooks the right man to be captain? That's a decision that they're going to have to make now, and they have got these one-day games coming up and we'll see how he goes. But I think there'll be some anxiety about that. from BBC Radio 5 Live. How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos? On good, bad billionaire, we're going to find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast, made his fortune. He's buried himself in a coffin for days.

Counted to 100,000 on camera. And even recreated squid games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet. But it all started when he gave a homeless man $10,000. So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention, Find out on good bad billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Ben Stokes has been speaking to our television colleagues.

He's been saying he's felt burnt out. He's sort of got his sort of love for, I don't know, counterfeit back when he was playing for Durham. And also he had time to think about it when he was away as well, playing for Durham. Well, there you go. I mean, will he continue playing for Durham? I suppose he might well. He's only retired from international cricket.

might be playing a hundred and all sorts for you know it. Well Michael Vaughan and Alistair Cook. Alistair Cook's with us as well. I mean you what do you think about the timing with a year to go until the ashes Alistair? Well the fact that he's only year to go and some of the quotes maybe he's saying on on the other channel actually suggesting that you know he just he's the fire has been

has gone and the fact that he has that carrot dangling there as a home as a captain after what happened in the last two series and knowing what it, you know, I think from what I know of Ben and how much it means to be England captain and to try and becoming Ashes winning captain. This is, this decision I'm convinced is not been taken lightly. It's such a hard job to hand back and I remember the feelings I had when I, and I did it. It's actually brought them back a little bit today actually seeing someone maybe going through what I went through for a people. period of time and probably what Vaughney did.

I think Vaughney has said, you know, about putting words, it was a bit more interested for him, but I kind of thought mine a little bit longer than that. So, but I just think timing for me is almost irrelevant. I know there's certain people have different things about that, but you know, you don't ever to mark, for me, mark what Ben has done as an England cricketer because the timing will be forgotten about in a couple,

in, you know, probably, but after tomorrow. I mean, you, you had your one or two, injury problems towards the end Michael but I mean was it a sense of relief for you as well no not really it wasn't relief my body was knacket and I told my wife before the South Africa series in 2008 that whatever the state the series thing when we'd either won or lost I was gonna step aside and I was quite relieved actually it's a pressurized job and I wasn't playing great but some of the songs like the singing in the stands shoes off for Ben Sturts has been all

sorts of chance but I think you know we've all been very very very very very very privileged to see an incredible cricketer the amount of times that Ben Stokes has pretty much won England games of cricket on his own there's not many in the game of cricket can you get help from ten teammates but they won England an ashes test match on his own pretty much in 2019 he got England over the line in the the World Cup he won him a T20 World Cup final against Pakistan at the MCG he's bald mammoths spells he's took flying catches he's produced runouts And eventually, you know, we sometimes look at Ian Botham, Freddie Flintosh, Ben Stokes,

as if they're not human beings, he's a human being. And if you're waking up every morning, as Ben Stokes would have done for many, many years, knowing he has to bowl, he has to catch, he has to bat well, he's also got to be this leader in and around the dress room, he's got a lead out there in the middle, he's got to have all the physical attributes required to produce all those facets of the game. Eventually, your mind goes, nah, can't do it anymore. he goes come on stop but you know with Ben Stokes he'll just keep going and that's spell this morning typifies Ben Stokes but coming out to open the batting in his last test and he needs to try

and what did you think of that oh I thought it was mad but it's Ben Stokes he just thinks that many others don't do and then I kind of broke it down I thought well wait a minute if you get singing on a quick 50 and they're only coming back tomorrow one or two down and they need 250 or 240 maybe it had done his work but you know a bit of that batting tonight was was chaotic and outrageous really but Ben Stokes as a as a person as a cricketer there's not many if you look at the history of our game are getting what Ben's getting now tomorrow this place is going to be electric he won't be going out there he's not batting he's not playing but the whole of Trent Bridge will be singing Ben Stokes all tomorrow well we hope to be speaking to Ben

Stokes fairly short what did you think about England's tactics today alistair well I I get the tactics of Ben Stokes opening and saying right and he did call absolute chaos I think after eight balls when they're chasing 370 there was three men in the circle so it did work it caused chaos the issue was the you could afford I think one person to do that one person to go and do it and it was Ben's I suppose last straw he wanted to do it and and I kind of get that I didn't get the following bit of that after the Harrybrook innings you know Bethel left the straight one it you know that doesn't that doesn't that doesn't

But you can't, you're not going to win consistently doing that. So yeah, a lot of, again, it's shock and some, some of the shots have played were poor shots. And I wonder, there's more, there's still more to come fall out from this test match because of it. So what do you mean by that? Do you mean, I mean, what about Brenda McCullum's position? Well, absolutely. They were, they were so thick of seas, weren't they? They were leading this brand of cricket.

and whether this was just one final go-at-it-together and then when Ben's gone, again, the word speculation has been used so much over the last two weeks that we're still speculating even though I just hope, I don't know, I don't know what I really feel at the minute because I think the whole day has just been the most extraordinary day cricket.

We watched 60 runs in the first session we're talking about this and that, and then the last session we saw 14 overs, 90, runs scores reverse scoops whereas I'm not sure that's a great look for the England side either but then it's always it's got they're going to always have an asterisk to it because it feels like it was because it was Ben Stokes last in it was kind of a day that typified the game was it up and down the slowness this morning and then the you know England going at it as soon as

they went into bat it was a you know another bizarre day in this sort of hugely fluctuating test match yeah I mean people were going to question that approach to their trying to win the game there aren't they in the end they're four wickets down there's some poor all sorts of weird shots played was that the right approach well what you probably hear from them is that if we try to if we if if we if we if we try to bat normally we would have got one with our name on it and yeah there is some truth in that but Mitchell batted normally and he didn't have one with his name on it is a hundred not out so look I think I

think they realize that they they thought their only way that they could win that game was like smashing a hole smashing a hole in the target tonight, creating some chaos with the field settings and so on, which they did to an extent. But they still need another 270. They've only got six wickets left. And they'll lose the game tomorrow.

Yeah, and it kind of all started here four years ago, didn't it, with that remarkable evening. I remember you interviewing Johnny Besto down on the boundary after you've won England that incredible game. It's amazing, isn't it? Four years later, it feels as though it's winding down again. Yeah, and I think Stokes and McCullum need a lot of credit for what they inherited, which is a real mess.

You know, they did pick it up, they did turn things around, and they did give English cricket, well, a smile on its face, and it was entertaining, it was great fun. The problem is it was unsustainable, and I think both McCullum and Stokes thought that they were kind of going to reinvent test cricket, this is going to be the way going forward. But actually, as we've seen, they've just been now repeat. repeatedly beaten by teams that just play conventional test match cricket, India, Australia, New Zealand. There is a proven formula to winning a test cricket. We're still waiting for a band to come over.

What's next, do you think, Agers, in terms of the captain's sea? Well, it's really interesting, isn't it? I mean, Brooks innings there tonight. Did that show anything? I don't know. I mean, I just think they've got a headache. It's going to be a very big appointment to make, isn't it? Well, they've got two choices.

Does Joe Root do it again until the end of next summer? Or do they go to Harry Brook? I think those are the only choices that they have being realistic. And they go to decide, well, whether they want some calm, whether they want something that they know, you know, safe pair of hands, all those usual cliches. Or do they take a chance with Harry Brooke? and that's really the only choices that they have.

I mean, Joe Roots could have to want to do it and that's another question altogether. But there seems to be those are the only choices that they have. His family's over there on the far side of the ground by the Fox Road stand at the moment. He's just embracing them. We hope that he's going to come over in just a minute. What do you think, Michael, about the future,

about the next appointment? Well, Harry Brooks and I've just had a great dress rehearsal as he can captain within any. that he's just played. I would be you know you'd want to Harry Brook because you've decided he's your white ball captain so you clearly feel a bit of leadership in him but I'd be wary of that with with Harry because he's got 50 over World Cup next year and doing all three formats as we know is very very difficult so there's a big decision to make Harry Brooke or Joe Roots and what about you Alistair on that about the next one

well I was hoping Stokesy's going to come so I don't have to answer the question so you you You are Stokesy first. Well, we've got just a fraction of time, Alist. We've got a fraction of time? Well, there's big decisions. I'm not sure who's going to be in the leadership group. Okay, well, thanks very much, Alistair. Ben Stokes is here.

He's been over there at the, doing a long television interview over on the Fox Road side of the ground. But thanks very much for joining us, Ben, on what's quite a momentous day for you. I suppose that the question is, is why and why now? Yeah, I think. It's a process, I think, you go through with, you know, a lot of people who, you know, are close to you, not only in terms of my close family, but also people who I feel like I've

built a, you know, a very good relationship with in terms of who I've played with. And there's one thing that I think someone else spoke to just said, like, when it happens, like, what does it feel like? And they just say it basically just feels like it kicks you in the teeth and you just sort of know. gone I've had a couple of those over the last probably I think five or six weeks and then you know it was up there yesterday or the day before I can't remember to be honest it was when I was actually putting my pads on and waiting to bat and that was sorry someone's ringing me yeah that's me mate um yeah sorry and yeah it's just I would say that that was just sort of the

final nail of the coffin and you know I came into this week you know being being being very, you know, not open-minded and things the right word, but, you know, like giving myself as much time and, you know, experience everything that a test match week springs to you to see if I could really see myself, you know, carrying on beyond the series. And, you know, being back in amongst it and the environment, you know, I just sort of, just can't see it. And then obviously with the emotion and the feeling that I got, when I was getting my pads on ready to go out and bat in our first innings, those are, those are ones. that I felt before and just sort of yeah I was like right okay I'm this is it this is the one

thing I didn't want to be thinking about or feeling like and it's and it's happening so it's the final lay on the coffin along with anything else and how do you feel about that now yeah you there's lots of emotion there's you know sadness there's relief there's happiness there's excitement you know because you know I've I absolutely love cricket I love the sport and and that's you know something that I need to make sure that I always feel like I'm doing. And over the last six months, 12 months, or however long it may be,

there's been certain moments where I felt like I haven't loved it. And, you know, my time last week back with Durham, there wasn't a moment where I didn't. And so being able to compare what it was like being back at my county where everything sort of started with me and people who I grew up with and then been comparing it to here where I've always loved. I've always loved to not feel that sense of love and complete and utter enjoyment like I have done for pretty much, you know, the 100 and whatever test matches before, then, you know, you just sort of know, because, you know, being able to compare what it was like last week playing for Durham and comparing it to all of the other things this week.

Yeah, it was, it was tough to see me going on past this test match. You said there were a couple of moments. Was one the blow in the face and the other one that, you know, what happened? after the Lord's Test Mac those are the sort of two moments that made you sort of think again? No, there's there's lots, you know, I think there's so much that people don't see, that you know, the time and effort that you put in away from, you know, all the your responsibilities in terms of like in the public, you know, the months after Australia, you know, it was tough in terms of the, what I put myself through physically, mentally to try and build on to this summer and then into the winter and then obviously,

to the 2027 Ashes as well. And then I think, you know, that whole week at Lodz for me was a very, very strange week. There was, you know, that was the start of all of this questioning. It's changed in what way, Ben? It just was. It just didn't have the feel that I felt like it should have done considering I was out of the England bubble for six months. And then when you turn up and you're sort of feeling a bit flat about everything and you're getting a bit, bit aggie about your responsibilities and you're sort of desperate to just get into the game and it just

wasn't it's not how you should feel as you know an international player um as you know a captain because i've always loved and enjoyed the responsibilities that get put on your shoulders away from playing you know believe it or not i do actually quite enjoy talking to you guys on the vast majority time um but even that was just you know it felt like a chore last week and i know it might sound silly but that's part of the you know part of how I sort of ended up getting myself to this process along with quite a lot of other things what was the reaction in the dressing room when you told them yeah I mean at the end of it it was pretty good they've got a nice clap but I think there was a bit of shock and a little bit of um taking a step back

bazz was you know pretty taking aback this morning when I told them but um yeah he's someone you don't he didn't sense it was coming at all uh I don't know I'll be able to have a chat with him about it, you know, at some point obviously, but I don't think so. You know, I don't, yeah, I don't know, but they were the group where I think just a little bit of taking aback and, you know, I guess you don't really want to have conversation for too many people around these kind of things because there's a sensitive subject. But yeah, they were, they were good and yeah, I think the, hopefully the emotion can stay help of it until we get the result tomorrow because we've still got a quite a bit of work

do and but you know it's been a pretty crazy day. Yeah. Was it a bit surreal out there knowing that the announcement was coming out? I mean it kept quiet for I don't know about four or five hours something like that. Yeah, um we've got a great comms team who sort of you know I just said can you you guys work together with Michael Lomb and Neil Fairbother about what you want to do but there was a whole lot of reasonings you know it was sort of we don't know how the game was going to play out and they decided that if we do get them seven or eight down we'll put it out because see you know the whole thing around me opening the bat and was actually a tactical decision that we've

been speaking about probably for the last two days so they just sort of thought it was there would be a real positive spin to the whole day if we do end up you know getting them seven or eight down and you know it might gee the crowd up and gee everyone up for obviously what's going to be a tough chase and you know it worked out pretty well there and obviously you know we're four down now would have been great to come in two down but you know we've made a really big dent in this you know pretty you know run chase that's quite far away at the moment especially on this wicket but we've made a good dent in it and i think today as a whole has been pretty pretty entertaining day for people who've

come here yeah i think this a day they'll they'll remember for a very long time just one final point let you go i know it's been a long and bizarre day are you going to play on yes i am yeah that's that's part of the excitement you know i've had i think everyone sort of maybe plans what they're to do when they're done with this and me and my partner always spoke about sort of getting to the end of the ashes and hopefully that's going the way it was going to go and then you know going back and playing a little bit of county cricket and other opportunities that there is at the moment but you know you can never have it no one ever gets sort of the perfect ending that they want and unfortunately for me it's came a lot earlier than sort of what I've been speaking about but you know that's in a

perfect world and the world certainly isn't perfect and and it's a very well and it's a very definitely the right time for me to step away because self I don't know if selfish is the right word but it definitely is the right thing for me I've been through some tough times before feeling like I've forced myself to keep going maybe when I shouldn't have done and I don't want to you know even comprehend maybe leaking towards that again because as I say I've got so much love for this great sport that's giving me an unbelievable career and an unbelievable opportunity and I want to make sure that I'm loving and enjoy every single moment out on the field regardless of who is that for. Ben, thanks very much for your time and congratulations on your career.

Thank you very much, cheers. There we go. That's Ben Stokes on his last day as an international cricketer. He's gone over to have a quick hug there with Alistair Cook. Michael Warnes shaking hands with him. Jonathan Agnew as well, shaking hands with him and you heard Ben say there that he actually enjoys those media interactions with him. with Jonathan. So Jonathan had a chance to shake hands in there. He said he enjoys media interactions with the likes of us and you. He's promised to be a date tomorrow for five minutes at end of the game which is rather nice for us to yeah look Ben he was he was that was kind of thoughtful Ben wasn't it you know and kind of relieve Ben as well yeah definitely I mean

I couldn't hear a huge amount because it's quite a noise going going around I was interested in the fact that they talked about opening the batting for two days that was that was a glad I'll give away there but yeah I think for you for If there's any sort of conspiracy theorists out there, that kind of laid that to rest. I think we're still going to see what happens after this game. And I go back to that point again about the fact that this series is all about a reset of English cricket.

And I would say, give the odds that England, we'll lose tomorrow, that hasn't happened. And so whether that has ramifications elsewhere within the management set up, we'll just have to wait and see. But it's a sad day. I mean, it's always sad when you lose a player like that. And you know, you think of the wonderful entertainment that, you know, that Ben's given.

I've been with Michael when he's gone, cookie when he's gone, you know, he's sort of, you know, there are people who have contributed a huge amount to English cricket. And we're very lucky to work with them. You know, even that's a relationship, you know, with Ben, you know, to interview the England captain two or three times a week. You know, it's a fantastic thing. And you do get to know them a bit, not terribly well, but, but a bit. and he just can't help that you just feel a bit sad when you when you see them go you know he said he's going to play on but he said yeah that's it for him he did retire from one day

international cricket they were chanting one more year over there i mean could you see the sort the cry go up you know next may you know ben come back if he is still playing for durham and england lose the first test against australia you know what the media's going to do So who knows? Never say never. You can unretire if you want to. But I'll tell you, if England do lose that first test against Australia or don't look, or even a losing draw, and Ben's knocking him over up at Durham, there'll be quite a cry in the media, won't they? Yeah, well, you'd think so, because there's a lot of county cricket that leads up to an Ashes series. And if he is in very good form and, you know, England have got what, they've got that series in

South Africa, which is pretty tough. They go to Bangladesh. They've got the test match in Australia, the day-night test match in Australia to celebrate the 150th anniversary. Yeah, you can see it, can't you? Definitely. Definitely. And I wouldn't put it beyond him. I'm not going to see headlines written now, but you know, with someone like Ben at 35 and such a fierce competitor and he'll be fit, you know, we know how he, how hard he trains and his determination, the thought of Ben Stokes answering his country's cry for help, I wouldn't rule it out. No, no. I'll ask him tomorrow.

Yeah, well that is the question for tomorrow. That's the only question left for you, isn't it really? Yeah. I'm looking forward to it actually. It'll be a nice friendly friendly, because we do. When someone's been a captain for four years, you know what's like doing this job, you do have your ups and downs. And Australia was a difficult to have everybody. But I'm looking forward to thanking him tomorrow.

I always do. Every England captain I've seen off or somehow sent a text or a letter to say thank you. They do. They give us their time. And he's been excellent at that. OK, Jonathan. Thank you very much indeed. Let's go to Andy Zaltzman to give us a statistical look at Ben Stokes' international career.

Well, I mean, Stokes is one of those players who's statistics are not entirely relevant to what he's done for the game and the performance as he's put in but nonetheless they are very impressive across all formats over 11,000 runs and 352 wickets for England in tests specifically 122 games he's finished with 7,273 runs at an average of 34 with 14 centuries and 252 wickets at an average just under 31 plus 115 catches amongst the sort of individual achievements is high I scored 258 against South Africa in the 2015-16 series, reached his 200 and 163 balls,

the second fastest test double hundred ever scored. He's one of only five players in test history to achieve the double of 200 wickets and 5,000 runs alongside some other great all-rounders of the game, Jack Callis, Garfield, Sober's, Kappeldev and Ian Botham. In one day, internationals, 114 games, almost three. three and a half thousand runs, five centuries and 74 wickets. Lenton played a key role in that World Cup final, 84 not out in that dramatic game to earn England that that super over. And T20 is not great statistics overall,

but a massive contribution to that World Cup win in 2022, including an unbeaten 52 in the final. And as a captain, which might be in some ways his sort of greatest legacy, the way he's captained the side. And we've seen the. results decline over the over the sort of four and a bit years of his of his captaincy but to put in context quite how extraordinary this the Stokes McCullum era has been in the 40 tests that England played from the Trent Bridge game here

against New Zealand four years ago when we saw that first sort of eruption of what we consider sort of basball batting in particular up to the end of last summer in 2025 in that dramatic series with India England scored at 4.59 runs per over in 40 test matches. And the fastest any team, any other team has ever scored in a 40 test sequence was 3.91 Prove, and that was the dominant Australians at the start of this century. That gives a context to quite how different, quite how unique this, the basball approach has been in terms of how they've played the game. Now it's had its successes and failures, but to see something new in a sport as old as test cricket is a fairly rare thing. The Stokes team had

has had four of England's nine highest successful fourth innings chases. They've had three wins after conceding 550 in the field. There have only been nine such victories in the history of Test cricket and only won by England previously, which was back in 1894. So it gives an idea of the extraordinary achievements of this team under Stokes' captaincy, albeit that the results have petered out. They haven't had that, you know, the landmarks, five test series victories that they'd have wanted.

The drawn series at home with Australia and India and heavy defeats in India and Australia. But nonetheless, a truly extraordinary cricketer who's done some of the most astonishing individual and collective things that we've seen from an England player. Indeed, Zoltz, thanks very much indeed. So we'll leave you with some of the special Ben Stokes moments. Here is Ravada.

Swing again from Stokes. And he's middle, this one as well. He knew, he knew from the moment he felt contact that it was the middle of the bat. That one has gone. It's a surreal feeling. It hasn't sunk in yet. I don't think it will until this text match is finished. So here's Rabada.

Rhythmical approach. Short, pulled away by Stokes, six more. That, now that was out of the middle. And it's 250 for Ben Stokes. The fastest 250 in Tis cricket. Crowd is definitely a word I'll use as how I'm feeling right now. Cummins on his way again from the far end. Bowles to Stokes to Hammers.

it past it and the field of dies has gone for four. Wow. An incredible shot. What a shot. I was saying to everyone before, like, I don't understand what it is with finals that produce things like that. Bolt's on his way, bolster him. That's a length and he heaved it away into the leg side. That's going to go for six.

What a shot. Well, well, Ben Stokes. He's the fiercest of competitors. I hope that we've inspired people to want to do this, you know, in the future. You know, kids and everything like that want to be part of what we've just been part. Here's the last ball of the World Cup final. Archer Bowles. Clips away into the leg side.

They're going to come back for the second. The throw's picked up. They throw to the wicket keeper's end. He's not as he. I think he's run out. Ingram would win the World Cup. Ben Stokes says he's honoured to take up the roll out. Ingram men's test captain.

Green balls and he swings at the next ball. And that's gone for another six. But crazy over. And the hundred for Stokes. Word has got out that Ben Stokes, 25 past three on the fourth day, has announced that he's retiring. And he's still bowling.

He's got the old ball. Crowd behind him now. Over the wicket he goes, bowls. Two folks. Edged and caught. Well, there's something both-a-mesk about that. Some people have their scripts written for them and they're beyond the realms of the rest of us. And Ben Stokes is one of those.

You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Five Live. My favourite World Cup moment. It's the first World Cup I properly remember watching. Argentina 78. The ticker tape, Mario Kempes, Ari Hahn's scoring goals from miles out,

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