'Ridiculous suggestion...': Vaughan lambasts Tim Paine's fiery 'me, me' remark on Stokes' ODI retirement backflip for WC
Michael Vaughan rushed to Ben Stokes' defence after Tim Paine's criticised the all-rounder's ODI retirement backflip for the World Cup.
Ben Stokes sent the cricket fraternity into a state of frenzy, announcing that he would make a comeback in ODIs ahead of the 50-over World Cup in India later this year. The all-rounder has also been selected in England's squad to face New Zealand for four warm-up ODIs. Stokes, who is a crucial cog in the England setup, had earlier replaced Joe Root as the Test captain. Stokes quit ODI cricket 13 months ago due to an increase in workload as a multi-format player and there were also concerns about his chronic left knee injury.
During defending champions England's 2019 ODI World Cup victorious campaign, Stokes was instrumental in the final and was also key in their T20 World Cup triumph last year. Reacting to the development, former Australia Test captain Tim Paine was left annoyed and he criticised Stokes of being selfish.
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Speaking to SEN Tasmania, he said, "Ben Stokes coming out of one day retirement, I found that interesting. It was a bit of, ‘Me, me, me’, there isn’t it? It was, ‘I’ll pick and I’ll choose where I want to play and when I want to play’, and, ‘I’ll play in the big tournaments’. The guys who played for 12 months, ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now?’"
"I don’t know, he’s not bowling. Harry Brook or Ben Stokes? As a bat. It would be very close, very, very close," he further added.
Despite Paine's criticism, Stokes found an ally in Michael Vaughan, who rushed to his defence and called the Aussie 'ridiculous'. Taking to Twitter, Vaughan wrote, “Ben stokes is the most selfless cricketer I have ever known .. He puts Team before himself more than any other player .. Ridiculous suggestion from Tim ..”
It will be interesting to see how Stokes fits into the ODI squad. His skills are out of the debate, but fans will be left wanting to know who gets dropped, to accommodate the 32-year-old veteran. In 105 ODIs, he has registered 2924 runs, at an average of 38.99 and 95.09 strike rate, packed with 21 fifties and three centuries. Meanwhile, in that format he has scalped 74 wickets, including a five-wicket haul.
