Must be up there with the greatest test innings ever played. Incredible defence for hours and then an astonishing all-out assault when one wicket remained. That he did that after dragging the World Cup Final out of the fire in the same summer is amazing. I watched both, and would rate both feats as some of the best sport I’ve seen. He’s been a marvelous captain too! 
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Stokes to open? 
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Presumably to make sure he gets to bat in the final test innings he will be part of.
Potentially England could bat for 3,5 sessions and he wouldn’t get his farewell innings
Nothing would surprise me less.
Pure box office
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Mental. Duckett is playing the anchor role at the moment 
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Good while it lasted, go well Ben!
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Shame, that was fantastic entertainment.
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We have witnessed many an England Cricket crisis, but this one is right up there.
If you look at it plainly, it’s not a surprise Stokes has walked. The team’s form has plummeted. However, the hapless administration has undergone some kinda slow- burn meltdown, ever since Brooke was walloped in Aukland. One calamity after another. I can’t get away from the feeling that Stokes has not felt supported, and that has been the final straw.
It’s several weeks until the next series, can some sort of order be restored? So many things to put right…
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Me too, I suspect his resignation was a fuck you moment. See how you get on without me…
The question of who captains the team is secondary for me, more importantly is who replaces him as a player.
Can’t see Brook getting the gig unless he steps down as cap’t of the white ball team, it’s impossible to carry out both roles nowadays (that applies to McCullum too IMO) I guess if you’re looking to the future, and they should be, it will be easier for them to find a new white ball cap’t. than a Test one. Whether he’s ready for the job (and whether he’s been forgiven for his own misdemeanours) won’t be known until he gets his chance,
Rehan Ahmed in as the all rounder (possibly) Bashir would feel a little hard done by but there aren’t exactly dozens of all-rounders in the county game waiting to step in. At least we would be able to pick four quicks and not lose much in the way of batting. I’ve heard S Curran mentioned but that’s been tried before and he just isn’t good enough.
They should forget about Root, he’s done his service and should be left to carry on setting records without the added responsibility, he deserves that.
A home series against Pakistan isn’t the toughest gig in the world game so at least the new regime might have an opportunity to get an early win under their belts.
TL:DR - England are in a shitty mess.
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I suspect this may end up with them pushing some form of the captaincy on Bethell, and I am not yet sure about whether that will be a good thing.
England could look at Calvin Harrison as the all rounder. Bowls very tidy leg spin, decent batter and probably the best slip fielder I have seen.
They really, really need to fuck off Key and McCullum imho. I don’t know who was more responsible for bazball in test cricket, suspect it was McCullum, but Key still let that shit happen.
This is why I’m not feeling devastated about Stokes retiring like a lot of people are. As an individual player, absolutely phenomenal, no doubt about that, but the damage it feels like he’s been part of to the test match side rankles so much for me.
Outside of England and Australia and to a lesser extent India, test cricket is on it’s knees and playing to empty stadiums with crowds not much bigger than County 4 day games
Meanwhile T20 has taken the world by storm with huge crowds and lucrative player contracts.
I understand why bazball was tried, and I doubt that it has had any real input into poor technique compared to T20
Some thoughts…
‘Bazball’ was great when it first started. There were a bunch of very good players ready to take advantage of a more relaxed framework. I personally loved the 2 fingers they stuck up to the naysayers. The results were appalling before the new regime came in. Those Bairstow based run chases were astonishing, and when we were in the field, the captaincy was wonderfully inventive, with a galvanised team that were ready to run through walls for the skipper. Then there were those amazing tours… The won/ lost/ drawn ratio is not bad at all.
Where it has fallen down imv is that they have failed to evolve. Some of this might be that the younger players need a more disciplined framework, some of it a kind of head in the sand doubling down on the method, and some of it having less of the absolute legends in the team with years of experience. Other teams have learnt how to counter it, too.
You may not care, but no Stokes leaves a massive hole in the team. A really great captain, up there with the best of them. Astonishing batsman. Ok, he has had a dip in form for a while, but at his best, immaculate defence, and all the attacking shots, which he can hit unbelievably hard. Then, on top of that, the ability to construct an innings for any given situation, with a quite incredible ability to bat with the tail and manipulate the field to his will. Not many i have seen can soak up pressure and then accelerate like he can at his best. Then there is his bowling! Super human effort, a partnership breaker par excellence. Always a knack for cracking a game open and then kicking it’s doors in. There have been several games where he has bowled us back into a match, then won it with his bat. Then there is his fielding! Then there is his fuck this, this not happening competetive attitude!
There is going to be a long, long wait while we try and find someone to balance the side the way he does.
Baz can fuck off. 
Key might end up back on the telly if he loses his job 
so he can stay where he is!
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All plans and tactics in any game/sport are eventually worked out by the opposition. You don’t double down, you need a new plan. That may now be bat all day for a gritty 74, or bowling minimal variations on line and length. One thing for sure is that players coming into the side will have evolved a limited overs style of play.
I agree. There are players who play in matches and have a decent contribution, and there are players who win matches. Stokes is the latter, and they are beyond rare.
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Only Jacques Kallis and Ben Stokes have 250 wickets and 7,000 runs in the entire history of test cricket.
The ECB are going Stokes mad on the socials. Highlights reels, pics, interviews, sneek peeks into conversations with the team. The works. If only they hadn’t fucked everything up and supported him. He is the last person that should be walking.
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Jonathan Liew, one of the best sports writers around. Fair to say, they get both barrels.