Ben Stokes' absence in ODIs a major blow for England, says Nasser Hussain

After England's loss to Australia in their ICC Champions Trophy campaign opener, former England skipper Nasser Hussain expressed his belief that the absence of veteran all-rounder Ben Stokes has had a detrimental impact on the team. Hussain stated that Stokes' inclusion in the Champions Trophy squad would have provided a more comfortable balance to the team.

Even making 351 runs did not prove to be safe for England as a resilient Alex Carey and explosive pair of Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell helped Australia secure a five-wicket win at Lahore on Saturday.

Speaking after the match to as quoted by Wisden, Nasser said that there was not much expectation from Australia as they missed their key players, including frontline pacers skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, retired all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who is also down with an injury.

"I think England when Duckett was smashing it and got 165, and [they were] getting up towards 350-plus, you were thinking maybe England have found a formula. Maybe these conditions will suit England," he added.

Hussain went on to explain how a lack of an all-rounder backfired on England. In order to boost their batting, they placed trust in their all-rounder to play as the fifth bowling option and collectively, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root took 1/73 in 11 overs with their spin bowling, with Root being a part-timer bowler.

"They cannot work out whether to play the extra batter, which they did today. That means their bowling is a bit short. Or play one of their bowling all-rounders, [Gus] Atkinson or [Jamie] Overton. But then, their batting would have been short," he said.

"I think recent cricket has shown the value of one individual, and that is Ben Stokes. That Ben Stokes character and individual makes your balance of batting and bowling much more comfortable, and I think he's a big loss," he added.

Notably, Stokes has not played any List-A cricket, let alone ODIs, since the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, after having made a return to the format in the tournament following retirement from the format in 2022. In 2024, his only white-ball games were three matches for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred. Coming to T20Is as well, he has not played for England since their T20 WC 2022 triumph, in which he played a vital role with a match-winning 50 in the final.

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