Ben Stokes's Guard of Honour: The Moment Both Teams Stood to Acknowledge Greatness

[Eastern Aaron]

The scene at Trent Bridge on Monday afternoon as Ben Stokes walked off following his final Test innings was one of those moments in sport that stops being about the match and becomes about something more fundamental. Stokes had made 19, caught behind by the New Zealand keeper off Ben Sears, on day five of a Test England were chasing 354 on a deteriorating pitch. New Zealand won by 92 runs to take the series 2-1. The result was cricket. What happened after the dismissal was something else.

Both sets of players, England and New Zealand, formed a line from the wicket to the pavilion boundary. New Zealand, who had just completed a series win, stood in the spirit of cricket's great tradition of acknowledging individual greatness regardless of competitive allegiance. Kane Williamson, who announced his own international retirement on the same day, was among the players applauding. McCullum stood at the boundary. The Trent Bridge crowd gave the full ground reception that Stokes had earned across fifteen years and two thousand days of Test cricket.

The specific detail that makes this image remarkable is that New Zealand had every professional reason to be celebrating a series win against England and they chose instead to form a guard of honour for the opponent's departing captain. That is the culture of Test cricket at its best and it was present fully at Trent Bridge on Monday. Stokes had announced the retirement mid-match the previous day, had taken a wicket with the first ball after the announcement, and on Monday completed his international career with his teammates' support and his opponents' respect. It is hard to imagine a more complete ending to a Test cricket career.

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