'Yeah of course I am happy' - Brendon McCullum shares his views on Ben Stokes' ODI retirement

In an interview with SENZ breakfast, England's head coach of the Test team and former New Zealand batter, Brendon McCullum said that he was happy with Stokes' decision to retire from ODI cricket. The former New Zealand cricketer also highlighted the fact that there are not too many all-format players and Ben Stokes had the luxury to do that. He also believes that this might enable Stokes to spend more time with him.

"He's probably in a luxurious position that he's able to do that, but also with the demands of the schedules and with his heightened schedule as Test captain, it would've become too much. He also has a young family and there's a lot going on," McCullum said. He added that he was impressed with Stokes' performance as the captain of the England test team.

"Stokes is the skipper of our Test side and the job that I've seen him do with this team in a very short period of time really excites me about what he can do with this side, particularly now that he'll have more available time rather than jumping from series to series to series," McCullum added. He stressed the fact that Stokes' decision might help him immerse in test cricket more.

"I guess England's a slightly different set-up to most other world cricket teams because they play a lot of cricket, they're a wanted commodity around the world and they're able to generate such a fan following and also the financial returns that the game requires to support 16 Counties and the big organization that is English cricket," McCullum added.

Stokes announced his retirement from ODI cricket last Monday. He was dismissed for just 5 runs off 11 balls in his last ODI against South Africa. It will be interesting to see if Stokes' decision of retiring from the ODIs help him in Tests and T20Is.