England all-rounder Ben Stokes took the field for the final time in the fifty-over format for Tuesday's match against South Africa at his home ground, Riverside Ground, at Chester-le-Street in Durham following his retirement from ODI cricket.
In a picture tweeted by the official handle of England Cricket, Stokes was given a guard of honour ahead of the match.
Stokes made his ODI debut against Ireland in 2011 and has scored 2919 runs in 104 ODIs, averaging 39.44, including three centuries and 21 half-centuries, and picked 74 wickets at an average of 41.79. He captained the ODI side during last summer's 3-0 series victory against Pakistan when first-choice members were unavailable due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Stokes will be remembered for his Player-of-the-Match performance in the 2019 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final at Lord's, where he slammed an unbeaten 84 to send the match into a Super Over as England claimed their first ICC Men's Cricket World Cup title on home soil in the most thrilling of circumstances.
Stokes cited the workload of playing three formats in international cricket and giving a youngster a chance to make a place for himself as reasons behind retiring from ODIs.
"Three formats are just unsustainable for me now. Not only do I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us, but I also feel that I am taking the place of another player who can give Jos and the rest of the team their all," in a statement.
