Ben Stokes: England's 'serious entertainer' bows out as cricket becomes 'less interesting' and 'far worse'

Ben Stokes was never going to go quietly, was he?

We saw a sedate retirement from an international cricket legend earlier this month when New Zealand's Kane Williamson called it quits while everyone else was focused on the chaos that had engulfed England following a kerfuffle at a London nightclub.

Williamson is a great of the game but a reluctant star. Stokes is a great of the game and always the star, always the headliner.

With bat, ball and in the field. On the park and off it. In good times and bad. So it was no surprise that his England exit announcement came with immediate fireworks.

A fairly sleepy Sunday up to that point, as New Zealand batter - and battler - Daryl Mitchell dealt with blow after blow to the body en route to a nuggety hundred at Trent Bridge, was ignited at 3.25pm when news of Stokes' shock retirement filtered through.

Stokes has made a number of bold declarations as captain - some will never forgive his call to cull England's first innings on day one of the 2023 Ashes at Edgbaston - but this bombshell topped the lot.