Ben Stokes hits fifty in first County Championship innings since shock Test retirement

Stokes scored 53 runs off 61 deliveries with 11 fours during his 82-minute stay in the middle for Durham in their County Championship game against Derbyshire. This was his first red-ball outing since shockingly retiring from Tests earlier this summer.

He has however, featured regularly for the side during their One Day Cup campaign, which ended in defeat in the semi-finals against Middlesex last week. Stokes scored 288 runs at an average of 41.14 across nine innings during the tournament, including a century against Derbyshire.

While this is Stokes' fourth appearance in the County Championship this year, having played two ahead of the start of England's Test series against New Zealand, and one when he was left out of the second Test of that series, this is only his seventh outing in the competition since 2022. 

Ben Stokes off the mark. 🤤#ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/EYtpnKsgCh

At the time of his international retirement, Stokes spoke of his desire to continue playing for Durham over the second half of the season. "I can [now] just go out and play for Durham and play the game," he said. "And if I've had a good day or if I've had a bad day, I can just go home, have a bit of dinner and then rock up the next day."

The all-rounder informed his England teammates about his retirement in the middle of the third and final Test against New Zealand. Stokes also opened the innings in his final outing for England, scoring 30 runs off just 20 balls with two fours and as many sixes, in the pursuit of 373 runs.

England were bundled out for 212 runs, as Ben Stokes lost his final Test as captain by 160 runs.

As for the match, Durham were 281-8 at the time of writing in their first innings, with skipper Alex Lees (63) and Graham Clark (64) being the other half-centurions.

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