London: England captain Ben Stokes has announced that he will retire from international cricket following the conclusion of the ongoing third and deciding Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, bringing the curtain down on a distinguished 15-year international career.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the decision on Sunday, with the 35-year-old revealing his plans to teammates before the start of play on the fourth day of the Nottingham Test.

The announcement came while Stokes was in the middle of a long bowling spell, with the news spreading around Trent Bridge just before he began his 11th over. Fans responded with a standing ovation, and moments later the England skipper produced a memorable farewell moment by dismissing Zak Foulkes, caught at slip, sparking loud celebrations from the crowd.

The retirement announcement follows Stokes' return to England's playing XI after missing the second Test against New Zealand. He and teammate Gus Atkinson were left out of the Oval Test, which England lost by 253 runs to allow New Zealand to level the three-match series 1-1—after breaching the team's midnight curfew during celebrations following England's first-Test victory.

While Stokes received a written conduct warning, he faced no further disciplinary action and returned to captain England in the series decider at Trent Bridge.

Speaking publicly on Wednesday after the nightclub incident, Stokes had hinted that his immediate focus remained solely on the final Test against New Zealand, without confirming his long-term plans.

Addressing his teammates before play, Stokes said in a video shared by the ECB:

"There's something that I know is going to happen over the next two days, which is my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England.

"Reasons can wait, but I've had many trips to the well before for this team, for you blokes, for people beforehand, and I've got one more trip to do.

"And the only thing that I ask, please, is can everyone please just do the same? We've got a lot of hard work still to do, and the only thing that I want is to be able to walk off the end of that field regardless of the result, knowing that I've had this group of men and one lady (fielding coach Sarah Taylor) give everything for the last two days."

Stokes has been one of England's defining cricketers since making his international debut 15 years ago. Appointed Test captain in 2022, he transformed England's red-ball fortunes while also delivering several of the country's greatest moments in white-ball cricket.

His unbeaten 84 in the dramatic 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord's forced the contest into a Super Over, where England secured their maiden ODI World Cup title. Later that year, he produced one of Test cricket's greatest innings, scoring an unforgettable unbeaten 135 to guide England to a stunning one-wicket Ashes victory over Australia at Headingley.

Among his other career highlights is a career-best Test score of 258 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2016, while he also claimed more than 250 Test wickets during his illustrious career.