"A rest can do your body a lot of good. It's just unfortunate that it's coincided with it being at Durham."
Thursday 14 September 2017 10:56, UK
Ben Stokes says he understands why his omission from England's T20 squad to play Windies in Durham has "upset" some people - but insists the rest will do his body "a lot of good".
Stokes will sit out the one-off short-form international on his home ground on Saturday, September 17 as England look to manage their players' workload ahead of this winter's Ashes series.
Sky Sports Cricket expert and Durham chairman Sir Ian Botham voiced his displeasure at England's decision in his Mirror column saying: "I feel for the people at the club who have put in so much hard work around this game and built a lot of our promotion around Ben."
Speaking to Sky Sports' Ian Ward ahead of the series-deciding third Test against Windies at Lord's, Stokes said: "It has been an interesting couple of days with everything around that. It was a collective decision from myself, [coach] Trevor Bayliss and the selectors.
"With the game being played at my local ground where I've played all of my cricket I understand that people are going to be upset.
"Being an all-forms player, it's very tough to get a rest - even if it is just two or three days here or there, it can do your body a lot of good.
"It's just unfortunate that it's coincided with it being at Durham. I think that if it was at another ground it probably wouldn't be such a big issue.
"We've got such a big winter coming up and the five ODIs against the Windies after the Twenty20s. It was a decision made that it was probably best to rest me then rather than in one of the five ODIs that we've got."
Stokes hit the headlines in the second Test at Headingley when he was handed a demerit point for swearing in frustration after Windies batsman Shai Hope edged him through the slips.
Michael Atherton branded the punishment "ridiculous" with the all-rounder now on three demerit points and one shy of a suspension.
Stokes, though, says he will take his censure "on the wrist" and hopes that if opposition players, such as old foe Marlon Samuels, look to target him, it will play into England's hands.
"It was pure frustration," added Stokes. "I had toiled away the whole day, come on to bowl my first over and then got nicked through the slips.
"It wasn't aimed at a player or an official or anything like that - it was out of pure frustration at myself but at the time they (the ICC) deemed that to be worth a demerit point. You've got to take it on the wrist. We'll see where that ends up.
"[If people try and target me] they're minds aren't on the actual job of winning the game - so that's how I can look at it. If they are trying to wind me up to try and get me another demerit point then hopefully their minds are elsewhere."
Samuels has warned Stokes to "stay on the boundary when I'm batting, as far away as possible" during the upcoming five-match ODI series, having given him a send-off during the Test series in the Caribbean in 2015 and then criticised him after Windies' World T20 win over England last year.
"It's been a thing for a couple of years now," added Stokes. "Hopefully he hits one straight down my throat. That would be quite nice! We'll see what happens when the ODIs come around."
