Stokes announced his retirement from ODIs in July last year, citing unsustainable workloads as the reason. However, soon after the 2023 Ashes, there were whispers that Stokes might come out of retirement, just like Moeen Ali had for the Ashes.

The whispers turned out to be true when England announced their squad for the New Zealand series, which also happened to be the provisional squad for the World Cup. Stokes was named in the ODI team for the first time in over a year, marking his return from retirement.

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Before the 2023 Ashes, Stokes had famously sent a text message to Moeen containing, “Ashes?”, to which Moeen had famously responded with “LOL”. Following the conversation that led to Moeen’s Test retirement reversal, there was widespread interest in the public to know what went behind the scenes that led to Stokes coming back for the World Cup.

Buttler said that Stokes’ return was largely his own decision and something that didn’t need persuasion: “To be honest, it was Ben’s call. You all know Ben pretty well by now. I don’t think anyone talking to him would persuade him.”

Buttler mentioned that while they had had a few conversations surrounding the World Cup some time back, he never tried convincing Stokes to come back since that wouldn’t have worked with him. Instead, the decision was left completely to Stokes.

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“We had some conversations quite a while ago about it and just left it to him to come to me, basically, if he wanted to come back. Ben is very much his own man, he makes his own decisions. I’ve played with him for a very long time, I’m good friends with him. Me badgering him and saying ‘come back, come back’ is not really the way things work with Ben. He very much makes up his own mind and decides.

“We had some conversations around it and just left it in his court. I’m sure the lure of playing in a World Cup is quite big for someone as competitive and as driven as he is to play in an England shirt. I’m delighted he felt up to it and could come back.”

Speaking on the quality that Stokes brings to the side, Buttler said it doesn’t even need a mention and that they are happy to have him back: “I don’t think you need me to tell you what Ben Stokes brings to a team. It’s fantastic to have Ben back available. Any time a player of his quality is available again is fantastic. We’re delighted to welcome him back.”

Stokes’ first ODI assignment after coming out of retirement will be the ODI series against New Zealand, starting September 8 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.