"The door is always open for a player of that quality" - Matthew Mott ready to welcome Ben Stokes into England's ODI setup

England's white-ball coach Matthew Mott insisted that Ben Stokes is welcome to the ODI set-up if he wishes to reverse his retirement from the format. However, the 49-year-old believes the selectors must keep an open mind, given a large pool of players at their disposal.

Stokes cited an 'unsustainable schedule' and a wearing body for retiring from 50-over international cricket in July 2022. The celebrated all-rounder played his last one-day international against South Africa last year and struggled before perishing for five off 11 deliveries, dismissed by Aiden Markram.

While Mott remains open to having Stokes back in England's ODI side ahead of the 2023 World Cup later this year, he understands that the 31-year-old's firm focus is on Test cricket. Hence, the England coach said that he is open to talking about a potential return to ODIs with the Durham all-rounder when he is ready, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"The door is always open for a player of that quality but we are also very aware that his main focus is red ball cricket as the captain. We respect that and when he's ready to chat, we’ll do that. I've had some good discussions with Jos and Rob Key on this.

"What we've worked out, as you will see on this tour, is that players are playing a lot of franchise cricket, coming in and out at different times, so we need to keep a really flexible, open mind to players and when we sit down to pick that 15 for the World Cup, we want to pick the best players possible."

When asked in November about returning to ODI cricket, the England Test captain said that the prospect of playing in the World Cup seems mouth-watering. But he is not thinking about it yet.

Ben Stokes was the Player of the Match award in the 2019 World Cup final

Ben Stokes. (Image Credits: Twitter)

The defending champions might greatly miss the star all-rounder in their 2023 World Cup defence, given his reputation as a big-match player. The all-rounder played an integral role in England's 2019 World Cup campaign on home soil, hitting an unbeaten 84 in the final against New Zealand at Lord's to script a thrilling win for his side.

Ben Stokes was also in the thick of things during the T20 World Cup 2022 final against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He struck an unbeaten 52 to rescue a wobbling England in pursuit of 138 as Jos Buttler and co. lifted the title.