Ben Stokes is gone and he leaves behind a broken England team

“I just tried to listen, be as a good as mate as I can. I can only speak as a captain, you understand the emotions that come with it. It is such an amazing thing to get an opportunity to do, and while it can be the right thing to step away from it, it is hard to give up. I can understand why it has been a tricky situation for him. You want to enjoy your cricket and play it for the right reasons, and if you are not in a space to do that then it is probably time to go. The dressing room is going to miss him as a leader, as such a influential player and as a mate too.”

“Yeah, absolutely. My enthusiasm for English cricket has never wavered. I have got a firm belief in the direction this team can go. Lord’s was a great example of some improvements, to be able to handle pressure when pressure arose, and to be able to tactically implement some players so we can be a more rounded team.

“The second Test was difficult for a number of reasons, and here we were outplayed in a tough contest by a great New Zealand side. I still look at it and think we know the direction we want to go. We need to be able to furnish and harness this team for the people in this country.

“The talent in this country is immense; we just need to see if we can keep harnessing it and getting results along the way. My belief and my commitment to English cricket has never wavered throughout.”

“Nothing seems to have changed in the smartness required for Test match cricket. I have seen enough to suggest the coaching team are not getting the maximum out of this team. We saw that last night. It has been dumb cricket for too long.

“We talked about the reset and the reset did not happen in terms of any changes. I just cannot see how the team moves forward without a change because the style of cricket required to be the best in the world is not what we saw last. It is not what we saw in Australia, against India at The Oval or in the last few years. If England want to be the best team in the world, I believe there are better coaches out there to maximise more out of this team.”

“[Ben] Stokes has had an impact on so many people, not just since he has been captain but throughout his career. He is a leader of men, people follow him. He has made such a significant impact over the last four years. He is going to be missed. We have been speaking for a couple of weeks, but when he confirmed to me yesterday that he was going to retire, I tried to talk him down. It became pretty obvious he had made his decision and was at peace with it. Your emotion then leads on to sadness, really, because you have been on this journey together for four years. It has been a real thrill. I feel privileged to have worked intimately with Stokesy during that time and consider him a good friend. I hope his next chapter is as great as his last.

“They are private conversations. I do not want to go into those respectfully. But he is hard to turn around when he makes a decision. He seems content and at peace with the decision he has made. He had thought long and hard about it. I wanted him to take some time and think about the decision, but he had already done that in his head. From that point on, its about celebrating it all.”

“It has been a nice couple of days in terms of all that [reception]. It would have been great for things to have ended differently, but the way this Test match went, it was an incredibly hard-fought game, with tricky conditions contributing to the pitch. Credit to New Zealand for the way they operated throughout the game. It was always going to be difficult to chase down that total. I would not have it any other way than a game going right to the end, other than being on the right side of the result. You cannot always have things your way. That would have been the perfect ending. That is one thing I will be sad about, the result in my last game.

“I think that I explained that [his decision to retire] in as much detail as I could yesterday. There are a few people with a few questions but I hope that it can be respected is that the most important person who can make the decisions is myself. I did not take the decision lightly or rush into it; I had a number of people who I trust to talk through these things. I tried this whole week to see if I could get myself ready to see myself going beyond that but I couldn’t. I’m very happy with everything I managed to do over my career. It is sad that it is over; there are some things that I will miss and some things which I will be glad to say I do not think I will worry about that any more. There is a lot of emotion obviously, but I am happy to have contributed some happiness to fans who come around and show us support everywhere in the world.”

“Really special moment. This is what you want to work towards. It has been a whole squad effort, sticking to a style we can be proud of. Really pleasing. We did a lot of good things at Lord’s, a tricky surface, things could have been different. At the Oval we played our brand, a few guys stuck their hands up at key moments.

“We started really well in day one, it was a really partnership at the top. What we did on the morning of day three, took some key wickets, set the tone. Daryl [Mitchell] settling the nerves and putting on a key partnership. No other guy that I would rather have there. We were put under pressure last night with something we were not really expecting, but we came and got our rewards today. To get those four wickets last night was really important. Some key moments with run-outs and catches.”

“It is always nice to have the ball in your hand when you have got a Test match to win. I pride myself in being able to adapt to whatever is there, be it with the new ball or old ball. It is a shame that we got struck by injuries but it shows the strength of our squad that we could call on guys from the sidelines to come in and do a really good job.

“In England, the ball does get soft so we have to bring the stumps in a little bit more. We talk about being relentless with our line and length. I think Tom Blundell really changed the series by coming up to the stumps at the Oval.”

Enough is enough. With Ben Stokes walking off into the sunset and results getting worse and worse, now is the time for a complete clear-out, with the coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key going too.

To lose to New Zealand at home is a very significant result. The last time that happened in a series of more than two matches was 1999, which is so long ago that my mate Phil Tufnell was still playing and I had not even debuted. The last time England lost a three-match series at home against anyone was 2012, and the end of Andrew Strauss’s time in charge.

Results like this do not come along often, and when you put it on the back of the Ashes winter, which was so poorly planned, and the failure to beat India last summer, you know something major has to give.

“Honestly, it has been really good, I have put a lot of work in, to be rewarded, I still do not know how I got this. All of the lads have been putting shifts in. Sometimes you are going to have aches and pains but you have got to go through it. You have got guys at the other end who will have trained as much as you, so you have got to go through it. The hardest thing is drifting in the field, you can be out there a day and half, you have got to be mentally strong.”

“I will miss everything to do with this. I guess that is part of getting older. There are a lot of things you are going to miss. There are some things, maybe, you are glad you do not have to do any more.

“It has been a great ride and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. When I first start out as a player, moving into more of a leadership role and then the last four and half years being captain has been absolutely fantastic.

“It would have been great to go out with a series win, that is in a perfect world. But I am very happy with what I have managed to achieve as a player and a captain. You always feel like you want more but I have given a lot of myself to the shirt. There is a lot of sacrifice that has gone into into it. Not just myself, but other people. There are quite a few emotions knowing you are not going to be doing this any more. There is sadness but a bit of excitement there today as well.”

“This is very special for our group. We came over with the goal of the winning the series. It is really cool. Really proud of every single squad member who at some stage who has stepped up. I was really pleased with how calm we were with that loss [at Lord’s]. We went to business at The Oval and here, different pitches.

“We spoke about partnerships were really crucial for us. Rachin [Ravindra] is an amazing talent with a great skill set. It got us to a total to defend. We put a lot of work in our fielding, the two run-outs today should guys are engaged and showing everything they have got.”

“It is pretty special. A Test series win is always special, but especially in this part of the world, with how strong England are as a side. To do it in a Test match series is extremely pleasing. You see on the last day, we had a number of injuries and the boys stepped up.

“[Zak] Foulkes came in and bowled exactly the way you want on that surface, getting the ball nipping both ways with the wicketkeeper up. The character of the boys to keep coming, Nathan Smith bowling big spells, [Ben] Sears bowling with a cut finger, that is the Black Caps way.

“Whenever we talk about the bowlers we talk about Tommy [Blundell]. I have known him for eight or nine years now, seeing him improve his game, not just batting but as a keeper, it is so pleasing to see as a mate, but see his performance out there, it is stunning.”

“It was a hard-fought game. A pretty tough one to be involved in. The game going down to the fifth day they are mentally and physically tiring. I think the way both teams stuck at it, kept coming in pretty testing conditions, I think we testament to the hard work both teams showed towards playing the sport.

“I think we did pretty well [first innings] with the total New Zealand ended up putting on the board. As the game went on you could see what the weather did to the pitch. It was docile in the first day and a half then the heat started to bake the wicket. It became more up and down. That is one of things about Test cricket; one day is different to the day before it.

“Conditions changed and having to adapt to that, I think both teams did pretty well. Looking back at the start and New Zealand were 320 for none and the way we were able to fight back into the game by being pretty relentless with the ball. It was always going to be a difficult run chase on that wicket which was getting worse and worse. There were some pretty dangerous things flying around up and down. It was a game of trying to stick in and make the most of it when it counted.”

“The better team has won the series. At The Oval and Trent Bridge, on the better cricket pitches, New Zealand have come out on top. Lord’s was a bit of a flip of a coin on a pitch that did too much. But you have to argue that New Zealand have outplayed England on the two proper cricket pitches.

“This was not a first-choice bowling attack, but they were absolutely superb and did what New Zealand have done for many years. They are always in the game, scrap very hard and take their opportunities when they come around.”

“Yesterday was frenetic; today is almost anti-climactic. It is a hard one to come to terms with. The crowd is here, and it is a hugely emotional day; the send-off for one of England’s greatest cricketers, a champion player, leader and captain. But with seven wickets already down and the match petering out, it is hard to come to terms with.

“The funny thing for me is there have been a few deliveries misbehaving, but not as many as I thought there would be. Again, if you want to do the whole back and forth about yesterday, wickets in hand with the pitch playing like this.”

“Trent Bridge did not know an announcement was coming about Ben Stokes; they have given away the tickets for free, then Stokes’ announcement comes. People then go online, go berserk and get the tickets, then Stokes got out and will not take the field today, so some people have chosen not to come. That is why the emotion feels a bit lower.

“For the theatre and the drama of it, and for the state of the game, it would have been sensible, not that this team plays sensibly, to leave the batting lineup as it was. Ultimately, all the successful chases that have been phenomenal under the leadership of Stokes, it has been the same batting order and the same roles. It was very emotional and very frantic yesterday, and a bit calmer today. I do not quite get the logic of watching Gus Atkinson face 70 balls, blocking it, and Harry Brook getting 20 off nine!

“Jamie Smith has played nicely. And there is never an innings in Test match cricket which does not matter. Everyone always wants to perform and he is someone who, since his magnificent hundred at Edgbaston last year, he has been relatively underwhelming as a Test match cricketer. He has definitely got a lot of talent and this innings is important for him to showcase that. He will want to keep going with these runs.”

“It has been a privilege to watch him as a cricketer. He has been fallible and flawed at times, but that is what made him such a loved cricketer at times. He has connected with the England fans more than almost any other cricketer I have known.

“Fast-bowling all-rounders; they come along all too rarely, when you got them they are like gold dust. England are going to find it very very hard to replace him.

“Four years as an England captain ages you considerably. You look back at some of the photos of Stokes in the past, you see how young he can look. He got to that stage at Lord’s where it was starting to affect him and then the last two weeks added to that provokes what we got yesterday.”

“Those three and a half hours late yesterday probably encapsulated what we have seen in the last four years. He may as well have ended that dressing room speech with ‘let’s go full Bazball for the next couple of days lads.

“It was bonkers, at times. Even though I did not quite agree with the timing of the announcement; mid-Test, mid-session, mid-spell, it gave us another one of those Ben Stokes moments that we have seen so many of over the years. Everyone that came here yesterday would remember that moment for the rest of their lives. It sums up Stokes as a cricketer; he will be remembered for those moments that he gave everything.”

No England cricketer has been so inspiring over such a long period as Ben Stokes – until his final act, that is, when the captain led his team in the sinking of his ship.

Had England needed 373 off 50 or 60 overs to win this Test and series, there might have been some justification for Stokes’s decision to open the batting himself. In the given circumstances, when England needed a sound foundation for their run chase and overall to score at less than four runs an over, this was a decision he will live to regret. An archetypal Bazball decision, and one based on bravado, not brains.

At the crisis England responded in default mode, that of mindless optimism, or see-ball hit-ball, running at the danger, or going harder, or whatever is the formula of the head coach Brendon McCullum. The prevailing culture has so pervaded the England dressing room that there was nothing resembling an appropriate response to Stokes’s retirement: not one semblance of his fight or resilience.

Like many people 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. He will rightly go down as one of England’s genuine greats, and I would go as far as saying he played the two greatest Test innings I have ever seen at Headingley in 2019 and at Lords in 2023.

His innings in the 2019 World Cup final would also be up there with the very best in that format too. This is a guy who revelled in the big moments. A genuine superstar. It doesn’t feel like a time for negatives and so I hesitate to say this but I’m not convinced that the whole thing was orchestrated the right way yesterday - it seems like a huge distraction to a team that was battling to avoid a series defeat and the 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. It is a small gripe in the greater scheme of things. English cricket will be far worse (and less interesting!) without Ben involved. Opposition teams will be breathing a sigh of relief and there will be a huge vacuum in the England team that will be impossible to fill.

So much about Ben Stokes’ retirement revelation felt discordant: the timing, the ominous aside that “reasons can wait”, the faintly prurient dressing-room video rushed out for social media with a lachrymose official tribute. “Ben, you have been the most inspirational captain, leader and legend this team could have ever hoped for,” said the England and Wales Cricket Board, in the manner of a family mourning a cherished pet. “We love you so much.” This was the same body, let us not forget, that just a fortnight earlier had released an interview with managing director Rob Key, throwing his captain to the wolves by expressing his “anger” and “disbelief” about a nightclub altercation that Stokes never even witnessed. Theirs is a capricious kind of love.

But by far the most uncomfortable sensation was that the wrong man is leaving. Stokes described how he was exhausted, that he had nothing left to give, how he was looking forward to marking his son Layton’s birthday later this week by waking up in a safari park hotel next to some white rhinos. While it is his prerogative to walk away from the goldfish bowl of an England captain’s existence, you cannot help but feel that with more compassionate employers, he would still have the energy to lead his country until next summer’s Ashes. Instead, there is an irrevocable rupture, with the totem of English cricket forced out of the door as the real culprits for the Test team’s crisis are untouched.

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.

I am really sad that he is going now. I have loved watching Ben give his heart and soul to English cricket. Headingley 2019 was the greatest Test innings I have seen. Nobody gave him a chance, it was the fourth innings and he had bowled a mammoth spell, but he kept his composure and his cool.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. Great sportspeople like Stokes do keep us guessing and are wired differently. He was never going to retire normally or quietly. He’s been an incredible figure in our sport, and he has grabbed English cricket by the scruff of the neck, as a batsman, bowler and captain. Everyone at Trent Bridge on Sunday will never forget it, and fans were showing their appreciation for him. Not many cricketers get that kind of love.

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