STOKES IS OUT!

Ben believes missing T20 defence is best all round 

- MIKE WALTERS

BEN STOKES has set aside his dreams of Twenty20 World Cup glory to regain full throttle as a bowler ahead of next year’s Ashes crusade.

The Bazball field general stunned England by telling Lord’s he “does not wish to be considered for selection” in a 15-man squad for the tournament in the Caribbean and USA in June.

England’s Test captain had already withdrawn from his scheduled £1.65m stint with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

And explaining his shock decision to miss the T20 World Cup, where he was England’s match-winner in the final two years ago in Melbourne, he said: “Opting out of the IPL and the World Cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the all-rounder I want to be for the foreseeable future.