"Thank You For Everything": Ben Stokes Receives Rousing ODI Farewell. Watch

Ben Stokes played his final ODI game on Tuesday against South Africa. He got a rousing farewell after the match. His sudden retirement came as a shock to many. The 31-year-old Stokes is best remembered for his brilliant innings in the 2019 World Cup final against New  Zealand.  England World Cup hero Stokes was blunt when explaining his decision to retire from one-day internationals: "We are not cars, you can't just fill us up."

But despite the 2019 World Cup-winner's exit from 50-over cricket, meaningful reform of a fixture schedule that England Test captain Stokes has labelled "unsustainable" is unlikely.

An inspiration. A legend. A champion.Thank you for everything, @benstokes38 pic.twitter.com/OD1gc5OnxD

International fixtures underpin a lucrative broadcasting contract the England and Wales Cricket Board has with Sky TV worth about £220 million ($264 million) a year and are the main revenue-providers for most of the sport's leading nations.

Since the start of 2017, England have had nearly 500 scheduled days of cricket, which puts them ahead of India in second place on 472.

Making matters worse, a knock-on consequence of the coronavirus pandemic is that several delayed fixtures have been shoehorned into this year's calendar.

Stokes bowed out of the ODI game after England's defeat by South Africa at his Durham home ground on Tuesday, a match in which the weary-looking 31-year-old all-rounder took 0-44 and managed just five with the bat.

He will still play Tests and Twenty20 internationals. The game came midway through a gruelling England programme of 12 white-ball fixtures in 25 days this month, with the Test team playing seven matches in the 2022 home season.

Stokes, speaking before Tuesday's match, told the BBC: