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Ben Stokes Has No Problems With Players Picking Franchise Cricket Instead of England

image-lm9a32nuBen Stokes (Source: X)

After the reports of Mark Wood's possible England departure emerged as he admitted to thinking of forgoing his central contract, the tremors were felt deep and wide throughout the English circuit as one of their premier pacers is contemplating his future for England and instead on the verge of plying his trade in the global franchise market.

This comes with Wood in a fix over his contract in ILT20 and England's tour of India that will overlap during the month of January. To fix the matter, the England Cricket Board (ECB) is set to offer the right-arm pacer a multi-year contract and would hope that he accepts it.

However, the English red-ball skipper Ben Stokes has affirmed that he is aware of such a thing and readily accepts that more players in the future could be tempted to go down that road to generate more opportunities. Further, he added that he is totally okay with such decisions even though the Three Lions could face potential player availability issues.

"Everyone's at a different point in their life, not just in their career, where other things have to be thought about by the individual. If a person makes a decision because they think it's not only best for themselves but also the future and security of their family, then it's very hard to disagree with that.

"We've got to understand, and I've got to understand as a captain, that there might be some decisions players make, and I'm very comfortable and aware that something like that might happen,"

Previously, Jason Roy gave his incremental central contract so that he could feature in the Major League Cricket (MLC) this year, which happened in the USA. Nevertheless, Stokes sees the positive side of it as, according to him, more youngsters will be inclined towards making cricket their full-time career.

"We know now that the whole landscape of cricket is changing. That is great for the individuals who are still within the game but also the guys who are coming through. The opportunities that are presented now for cricketers are amazing, and it's great for the sport. The more opportunities that come, the more people will be attracted to the sport and trying to make a career out of it."

Stokes' statement came before the start of the four-match ODI series against New Zealand, which potentially is his return to one-day cricket after having retired from the format last year. This move aims to strengthen England's side as they hope to defend their World Cup title in October-November to be played in India.