Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali have both withdrawn from this year’s Hundred. England’s Test captain has chosen to focus on his fitness and his duties with the red ball, and Moeen has decided to retire from county cricket so he can grasp the opportunities offered by global franchise leagues.
The competition has brought only bad luck to Stokes, who in five appearances has scored only 14 runs at an average of 3.50 and sustained one serious hamstring injury, while playing for Northern Superchargers last August. That pulled muscle kept him out of all cricket for two months and, after a recurrence while playing for England in New Zealand late last year, he required surgery from which he is recovering.
He also decided to skip the Indian Premier League this year to “look after my body”. When announcing that decision last November, he said: “It’s about looking at what I’ve got ahead and making the decision that I think is right for me to be able to prolong my career as long as possible.”
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The Hundred this year starts the day after England’s five-Test series against India concludes at the Oval, with the first fixture for the Superchargers – for whom Stokes still hopes to play in future seasons – coming against Welsh Fire at Headingley a further two days later. England’s Test side will by then be shifting focus to an Ashes series that starts in Australia in November.
With memories fresh of his battle to return from his hamstring injury in time for England’s Test series in Pakistan last October – he eventually missed the first of their three games there and said that in his desire to recover “I did physically drain and ruin myself” – the 33-year-old has opted to build some space into his schedule.
Moeen’s decision deprives Birmingham Phoenix of a local cricketing hero and the man who has captained them in all but two of their 32 Hundred fixtures across four seasons. The 37-year-old has not ruled out returning to the team next year, but meanwhile he will take on a player-coach role at Warwickshire for the T20 Blast; while promising to make himself available for their group games, he will be involved only as a coach should they qualify for the quarter-finals in September.
“This is a big decision for me and not one I’ve taken lightly,” Moeen said. “I’m still passionate about the game and want to play as much as I can. I still love playing. I still have passion for the game and I love being in a team environment. I also enjoy talking to players about cricket, the tactics, and I think that’ll help me move smoothly into coaching after my playing days are over.”
The players’ announcements came the day before the eight Hundred teams are due to reveal their player retentions – they are each allowed to hold on to eight members of their 2024 squad – and direct signings. Alex Hales had already pulled out of this year’s competition to play instead in Major League Cricket in the US, and in the Caribbean Premier League.
