Ben Stokes retired from international cricket on 28 June 2026, at the conclusion of England’s third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. He will continue to play for Durham and in franchise cricket around the world.
There are cricketers who play the game, and then there are cricketers who reshape it entirely. Benjamin Andrew Stokes belongs firmly in the second category. On 28 June 2026, mid-spell at Trent Bridge, the world woke up to a bombshell announcement: England’s greatest living cricketer was hanging up his boots. The shock was immediate, the tributes instantaneous, and the standing ovation from Nottingham’s crowd was nothing short of inevitable.
Stokes is not just a name in the record books. He is a feeling, a clenched fist, a batting stance that said “not today” every time England’s back was against the wall.
After 15 extraordinary years representing England across all three formats, the curtain falls on a career that reads like a novel nobody would dare submit for being too dramatic.
Who Is The Actual Ben Stokes?
Born on 4 June 1991 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Benjamin Andrew Stokes is the son of Gerard Stokes, a New Zealand rugby league footballer and coach. His mother has Maori heritage, a lineage he has always carried with pride, evidenced by a tattoo honouring his Ngapuhi roots. In 2003, when Ben was just 12 years old, the family relocated to England when his father was appointed head coach of Workington Town Rugby League Club. England gained its most beloved cricketer almost by accident.
A left-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm fast bowler, Stokes is cut from the cloth of the great all-rounders. Strong, relentless, and absolutely allergic to giving up, he would go on to become one of the most celebrated cricketers England has ever produced, right there in the conversation with Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff, and arguably surpassing both in terms of global impact and sustained brilliance.
The Making of A Stalwart: Early Career
Stokes made his senior England debut in August 2011 in a One Day International against Ireland. He was 20 years old and dismissed for three runs. Nobody panicked. His Test debut came during the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, where he became England’s 658th Test player. That same series, he did something no other English batsman managed: he scored a century, striking 120 off 195 balls in the third Test.
- He debuted in ODIs and T20Is in 2011
- His Test cap arrived during the 2013-14 Ashes against Australia
- He was the only English batsman to score a hundred during that Ashes series
The early years were a period of finding his feet. There were technical imperfections, occasional disciplinary storms, and moments of recklessness both with the bat and in his personal life. But the raw talent was impossible to ignore. A player who could bowl at pace, hit the ball into the next county, and field like his life depended on it was never going to stay in the shadows for long.
Records That Rewrite the Books
When they talk about Ben Stokes in stats meetings, they run out of superlatives before they run out of numbers. His career record is not just impressive; it is historically unique.
- Over 7,200 Test runs across more than 120 Tests, at an average near 35
- 14 Test centuries, including a famous maiden hundred in the 2013-14 Ashes
- More than 230 Test wickets, making him a genuine all-rounder by any standard
- More than 11,000 international runs across all formats combined
- Over 330 international wickets across formats
One of only three men in cricket history to score 7,000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets, he stands alongside Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis in that elite company. That is not a sentence that needs embellishment.
His highest Test score, a blistering 258 against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2016, was not just his personal best but the second-fastest double century in Test history. In that single innings, he scored 130 runs before lunch alone, the most by any batsman in a pre-lunch session in Test history. He and Jonny Bairstow also set the world record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership in Tests, putting on 399 runs together. That 258 is also, simply, the highest individual Test score ever made by a number six batsman.
In February 2023, he surpassed his own head coach Brendon McCullum’s record to hold the most sixes hit in a Test career. His 19 international centuries (14 in Tests, 5 in ODIs) span formats and continents, and his best bowling figures of 6 for 22 in a Test at Lord’s against West Indies in 2017 stand as proof that with the ball, too, he could dismantle a batting lineup inside an afternoon.
Under his captaincy:
- England pulled off their two highest run chases in history: 378 against India at Edgbaston in 2022, and 371 against India at Headingley in 2025
- Four of England’s top-10 chases in history came under his leadership
- He became England’s fastest player to score a Test half-century, reaching 50 off just 24 balls against West Indies at Edgbaston in July 2024, breaking Ian Botham’s record set in 1981
2019: The Year Ben Stokes Became A Legend!
If Stokes had played no cricket before or after 2019, that one year alone would cement his place among cricket’s immortals. It was the year when lightning struck twice, and the same man was holding the rod both times.
The World Cup Final on 14 July 2019 at Lord’s is the stuff of cricket mythology. England faced New Zealand in a match that seemed destined to break English hearts. Stokes strode to the crease and played an innings for the ages, making an unbeaten 84 off 98 balls. With two balls remaining and four needed, a full-blooded Stokes drive ricocheted off his bat and deflected off a diving Martin Guptill’s throw to the boundary for an overthrow. The runs levelled the scores off the final ball. Then came the Super Over. Also tied. England won on boundary count. Stokes went back out to bat in the Super Over, still not out, and hit eight off three balls. He won the Man of the Match award for an innings played under conditions that would have caused most batsmen to freeze.
He was named in the ICC Team of the Tournament and walked away from that summer as a World Cup winner in the 50-over format. England’s maiden 50-over World Cup title, and Stokes was its heartbeat.
Then came Headingley. The third Ashes Test in August 2019. England had been bowled out for 67 in their first innings. Defeat looked not just likely but certain. Chasing 359 to win, England were 286 for 9, which means the last wicket pair needed 73 runs. What followed has been rated by Wisden as the greatest hundred of the decade.
Stokes batted with Jack Leach, a number 11 who scored one run off 17 balls, and pulled England across the line. His 135 not out off 219 balls contained 11 fours and 8 sixes, and it remains one of the most extraordinary pieces of batting in Test match history. It has been called “one of the greatest innings of all time” and “the greatest ever played by an Englishman,” and there are few who would argue with either description.
For his efforts in 2019, Stokes was awarded:
- ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy)
- BBC Sports Personality of the Year
- OBE in the New Year’s Honours List
- Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World (2019, 2020, and again in 2022)
- Named Man of the Match in the World Cup Final
2022 T20 World Cup: Finishing the Job Again
In case anyone thought 2019 was a fluke or a one-time lightning strike, Stokes turned up in the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final against Pakistan and did it all over again. England needed to chase down a target and once more, when the pressure was at its most suffocating, Stokes delivered. His unbeaten 52 off 49 balls saw England over the line and gave him a second World Cup winner’s medal, this time in the shortest format. Two formats, two World Cup finals, two match-defining performances. Some players go their entire careers without such a moment. He did it twice.
Captaincy and the Birth of Bazball
In April 2022, Stokes was appointed England’s Test captain, a decision that, with the benefit of hindsight, looks like one of the best calls English cricket has ever made. Paired with head coach Brendon McCullum, he did not tinker around the edges. He threw away the rule book altogether.
England had won just one of their previous 17 Test matches before Stokes and McCullum took charge. Within their first 13 matches together, England won 11. The approach was nicknamed “Bazball” by the press, an attacking, fearless, almost reckless brand of Test cricket that prioritised intent over caution and personality over system. Batsmen were encouraged to take the game on from ball one. Declarations came early. No target was too steep to chase.
The results were staggering:
- England won nine of their first 10 Tests under Stokes and McCullum
- They claimed three consecutive series wins, including a historic 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan in Pakistan, where England scored a record 506 runs on the first day in Rawalpindi
- Under Stokes, England chased down targets that would have been laughed out of the room in any previous era of English Test cricket
The philosophy was simple: play without fear. Stokes set the tone with his own batting, never appearing to bat as though the match depended on it even when it absolutely did. This was the paradox of his genius. He produced his best cricket when the stakes were highest and the odds were longest.
The IPL Chapter
Away from international duty, Stokes made a significant mark in the Indian Premier League. In 2017, he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant and named the Most Valuable Player of the season, making a maiden T20 century of 103 not out off 63 balls against Gujarat Lions. For the 2018 season, he moved to Rajasthan Royals for a then-record IPL auction price of 1.7 million pounds, making him the most expensive player in that year’s auction. In 2020, he hit 107 not out for the Royals in an unbroken 152-run partnership with Sanju Samson, underlining his quality across formats and conditions.
The Human Being Behind the Cricketer
To understand Ben Stokes fully, one must also reckon with the storms he weathered off the field. In September 2017, following a nightclub altercation in Bristol, he was arrested and charged with affray. The subsequent legal proceedings, which ended in acquittal in 2018, were among the most publicly scrutinised episodes in recent English cricket history. During that period, he was left out of the tour of Australia, missed an Ashes series, and spent months in a very public limbo. That he returned with such ferocity of purpose speaks to the depth of his character.
In 2021, he took a mental health break from the game, stepping away at the height of the summer to prioritise his wellbeing. At the time, it was a brave and unusual decision for a professional cricketer to make publicly. It has since become a moment that many in the sport cite as helping to shift the conversation around athlete mental health in English cricket. He came back stronger, more considered, and with a clearer sense of purpose.
In May 2025, it was reported that Stokes had quit alcohol, reportedly abstinent since January 2025. This detail, taken alongside the mental health break and his willingness to speak honestly about the pressures of elite sport, paints the picture of a man who understood that longevity at the top required caring for the whole person, not just the athlete.
His personal life has been equally grounded. He became engaged to Clare Ratcliffe in 2013, the pair married in October 2017 in Somerset, and they have two children together.
The Farewell: A Moment for the Ages
The manner of the retirement announcement was pure Stokes. It was not a carefully managed press conference, not a farewell tour, not a prepared statement read from a lectern. It was mid-game, mid-spell, at Trent Bridge, during the fourth day of the third Test against New Zealand on 28 June 2026.
He told his teammates before the start of play that morning. He was, by all accounts, visibly emotional and choked up, imploring them to “go out there and give absolutely everything for another two days.” He received a standing ovation from the England dressing room. The ECB confirmed the news at 3.25pm. As the announcement reached the Trent Bridge crowd, the stadium rose as one.
With his very next delivery, he took a wicket. Of course he did. That is the most Stokes thing imaginable.
He was 35 years old. He had been contracted until the end of 2027, meaning he could have played in one more Ashes series in the summer of 2027. He chose not to. The reasons, as he told his teammates, could wait. The game could not.
In his final batting cameo, he moved himself up the order to open, swung the bat with no regard for consequence, hit two sixes, and was dismissed for 30. Even in the last act, there were fireworks. There is no other way he knows how to play.
The ECB described him as “one of England’s all-time greatest captains.” England Cricket’s official statement read: “Ben, you have been the most inspirational captain, leader and legend this team could have ever hoped for. We love you so much and wish you all the best in your retirement. England will never be the same again.”
Stuart Broad called him “an absolute talisman of English cricket, someone who’s always been there in the big moments, giving absolutely everything.” Chris Woakes said: “Ben Stokes, thank you, from myself and on behalf of every England cricket supporter out there. So many incredible memories.”
Stokes confirmed he will continue to play for Durham in domestic cricket and will remain active on the franchise circuit globally. He has not played limited-overs international cricket since the 2023 World Cup in India, and has not featured in a white-ball match since injuring his hamstring playing in The Hundred in August 2024.
Career Highlights at a Glance
- International debut: ODI vs Ireland, August 2011
- Test debut: 2nd Test, 2013-14 Ashes, Australia
- Tests played: 122
- Test runs: 7,200+
- Test centuries: 14
- Test wickets: 230+
- Best bowling (Test): 6 for 22 vs West Indies, Lord’s, 2017
- Highest score: 258 vs South Africa, Cape Town, 2016 (2nd fastest double century in Test history)
- Famous innings: 135* vs Australia, Headingley, 2019 (rated Greatest Hundred of the Decade by Wisden)
- ODI runs: 2,000+, with 5 centuries including 84* in the 2019 World Cup Final
- World Cup titles: 2019 ODI World Cup, 2022 T20 World Cup
- ICC Awards: Cricketer of the Year 2019; Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World 2019, 2020, 2022
- Individual awards: BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2019; OBE 2020; ICC World Test XI 2016
- IPL: 2017 Most Valuable Player (Rising Pune Supergiant); 2018 record IPL auction buy (£1.7m, Rajasthan Royals)
- Captaincy record: Led England to 11 wins in his first 13 Tests as captain; oversaw two highest ever Test run chases in England’s history
- Third player ever to score 7,000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets (alongside Sobers and Kallis)
The Legacy
When cricket historians sit down in 20 years to write about this era, they will write about Ben Stokes. They will write about the man who kept his nerve in a tied World Cup final, who chased down the impossible at Headingley with a number 11 for company, who took England’s most dysfunctional batting unit and turned it into the most exciting Test team on the planet, who bowled 11 overs in the Nottingham heat and took a wicket moments after telling the world he was done.
He is not simply one of England’s greatest cricketers. He is one of cricket’s great characters: flawed, fierce, tender, brave, and capable of producing moments so extraordinary they defy rational explanation. The game has had many talented all-rounders. It has had very few who consistently delivered when the stakes were this high and the crowds were this large and the pressure was this suffocating.
It is a fool’s errand to replace a player of his kind. You do not replace Ben Stokes. You move forward without him, and you tell the stories, and you hope that somewhere a 12-year-old watching a highlights reel decides that this is the game for them.
The curtain has fallen on one of cricket’s most compelling careers. What a show it was.
Lucky Raina is a complete cricket writer chasing corporate dreams by day and cricket stories by night. Once a promising Under 16 cricketer, life took him down a different pitch but the love for the game never left.
