Retirement the best thing for me - Stokes

Ben Stokes, one of the greatest cricketers ever to play for England, says retiring from international cricket is the "best thing" for him. The 35-year-old made the stunning announcement on the fourth day of the deciding Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. It means his international career will end on Monday after 15 years, 122 Tests, 114 ODIs and 43 T20s.

"It might sound quite selfish but this decision is genuinely the best thing for me right now," Stokes told Sky Sports. "I hope it's the best thing for the team going forward but I also hope it's what will allow me to keep loving this game that has given me so much."

The all-rounder denied the decision was made as a result of events in the past three weeks, when he was made unavailable for England's second Test against New Zealand following an incident in a London nightclub. Instead, he had been considering ending his career since England's 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, and had further thoughts of retiring during the first Test of the summer at Lord's.

"The Lord's Test, for me, was something that brought back some kind of negative feelings about where I was in my career," he said. "I'd worked so hard since getting home to put things right, but I think I just burned myself out."

When Stokes was away from the England team for the second Test, he played for Durham and said returning to his county rekindled a love for the game. He confirmed he will continue to play domestic cricket.

"I'm very excited about the next part of what I get to do. Going back to playing for my boyhood club Durham, I'm comparing this week to that week - right now I am buzzing, but there have been moments this week that have been really tough and it just makes it clear that I've made the right decision."

Stokes said he made the retirement decision when he was putting on his pads to prepare to bat in England's first innings at Trent Bridge on Saturday. He told former captain Joe Root and vice-captain Harry Brook on Saturday evening, then revealed the news to the rest of the team on Sunday morning.

"It's been an interesting four or five weeks, maybe six months in general," added Stokes. "There are all kinds of emotions when this day comes - relief, happiness, excitement, sadness. It's the best thing that I've ever been asked to do, captaining England. It is the greatest honour, but there is also another side to it that people don't see, only those closest to you see it. My family, my wife, they see the bits where it does drain you and it does affect you negatively."