New Delhi, Oct. 1 -- It's hard to keep English cricketer Ben Stokes out of the game. Or, the news. Three months after his shock retirement from international cricket, Stokes is at the forefront of a debate that has happened before-and will happen again, and again, in the years to come.

In a cricketing landscape that is seeing the march of club cricket dust out and redraw all kinds of boundaries, Stokes is the current lightning rod of the tradeoff between club and country, self-interest and national interest.

After walking away from international cricket, the 35-year-old is keen to hit the relatively more lucrative stops of T20 club cricket. First up is Australia, in December and January. Here, Stokes has signed a contract worth, at curr...