England captain Ben Stokes will retire from international cricket after the third Test against New Zealand, the team has said.

"This is my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England," Stokes told his England teammates inside the dressing room at the start of play at Trent Bridge on Sunday, in a video released on social media by England Cricket.

The match is headed to a fifth and final day on Monday, with the series on the line at 1-1.

The shocking announcement came 15 minutes before the tea break on day four. Stokes picked up a wicket moments later and was given a standing ovation as he led England off at the end of the session.

"The reasons can wait (about) why," Stokes said in his dressing-room speech. "But I've had many trips to the well before for this team and I've got one more trip to do."

He was then elevated to open the batting, receiving a guard of honour from the New Zealanders on his way to the crease, before falling for 30 runs of 20 balls, having smacked two fours and two sixes to give the Nottingham crowd one last famous innings.

England reached stumps 4-103, needing 270 runs to win on the final day.

Stokes decided to quit international cricket during a series when he made front-page news after being dropped by England for the second Test amid an investigation following a night out with teammate Gus Atkinson after the first Test at Lord's.

The two players were in a London nightclub when a rugby player from the English club Saracens reportedly struck an England team security official.

The England and Wales Cricket Board dropped Stokes and Atkinson, and later said they had "breached specific contractual obligations" and were given a written warning.

The sport's independent oversight panel — the Cricket Regulator body — said after its investigation that there was "insufficient evidence to establish that any regulatory breach occurred."

It all came after the team's Ashes capitulation in Australia and an ensuing review that found cultural issues within the team.

The 35-year-old said the past few weeks pushed him over the edge into calling it quits.

"Over the last five or six weeks, it was something else that I had to overcome," he told Sky Sports.

"I feel like I've been pretty good at that throughout my career at overcoming on-field disappointment, off-field disappointment, and then the emotional side of things since Australia.

"The way I said it to my wife is 'I don't actually think I have anymore fight left in me to get over this to be honest'."

Former captain Kevin Pietersen wrote on social media that Stokes had been forced out by the team's recent struggles and suggested some of the higher-ups in English cricket deserved to shoulder more of the blame.

"Ben Stokes should NOT have been the first to go," Pietersen wrote.

"And, in the next little while, he WON'T be the last."

Stokes said that, mentally, emotionally, and physically, everything had gotten a little bit too hard.

"It's brutal what we do, physically, mentally and all that," Stokes said.

"Even what you have to put in, the hard work, even that's getting a bit tiring these days. At 35, I feel like I've got to so much physical work to keep myself doing what I do out there."

It ends Stokes's 15-year international career that peaked when he starred for England in its win over New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup final in 2019 and followed it up with one of Test cricket's greatest innings a few weeks later, carrying England to a famous Ashes victory over Australia at Headingley.

He was also a key player in England's T20 World Cup-winning team in 2022, the same year he became Test captain.

ECB chairman Richard Thompson said Stokes is "one of England's greatest ever cricketers and one of the defining figures of his generation".

"His performances under pressure, his relentless competitiveness and his ability to produce the extraordinary when it matters most have given me and millions of other fans memories that will endure forever," Thompson said.

"Beyond his remarkable achievements on the field, his performances have inspired many youngsters to embrace cricket with positivity and belief. We are losing a batsman, a bowler, a captain and a talisman."

AP/ABC