Stokes - Why I support athletes who step away

'If you can't give 100 per cent of yourself, it's unfair on you but also on the team or the franchise that you're supposed to be representing.'

Ben Stokes firmly believes that athletes are right to consider how they manage their workloads if they don't feel they can give their maximum effort to every opportunity.

There are multiple examples throughout sport of players stepping away from tournaments or teams in order to protect their physical and mental health, or prioritise aspects of their life outside of sport.

In cricket alone, the likes of Ben himself, fellow 4CAST athlete Jason Roy, England white-ball captain Harry Brook, Australia star Glenn Maxwell - and many others - have taken time off for a variety of reasons.

The hectic cricket schedule has only increased the demands on international players who now face a packed calendar across multiple formats. And Ben can empathise with those who find themselves in that position.

"If someone pulls out of something late, whether it be in our sport or another sport, it's sometimes perceived as, 'Oh, they just can't be bothered'," he said.

"But from an athlete's point of view, when you do make decisions like that, there's way more that goes into it with your thought process.

"It's like, 'Well, I'm unsure about this'. And you've also got to think that I don't want to be going and giving an account of myself at 60 to 70 per cent to a team who are expecting me to be, you know, what you are perceived of as an athlete. When you know that if I go there, I'm not going to be able to give the best version of myself to that.

"So, actually, you're not doing justice to the team. You're not doing justice to yourself.

"So when you weigh all those kind of things up in your own head and discuss them with the people who you discuss all those kind of things with, it's just so obvious, right? This is the best option, I think, for all parties because the team that you go out and represent, who are paying you to play for them or whatever it is, they're expecting more than just performances on the field.

"Because there's all the other stuff that comes with that. And when you don't think that you can give that 100 per cent version of yourself that you expect to give every single time, I think it's probably unfair on yourself, but also the team or the franchise that you're supposed to be representing, [because you can't] go in there and not give 100 per cent of yourself."

Watch the video to see Ben in conversation with Jason Roy, Matty Potts and JCC at Delta Hotels by Marriott Worsley Park Country Club.