Ben Stokes has given England a new mindset but bigger challenges lie ahead

As I look back over a summer when Ben Stokes has inspired an extraordinary turnaround of England’s fortunes in Test cricket, I keep returning to a more distant memory. It was 2013, and Stokes and I were in Australia, his first England Lions tour as a player and my first as batting coach. He was sent home after coming back very late one evening or, more accurately, early one morning.

David Parsons, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s performance director, and the first-team coach, Andy Flower, happened to be over at the time and sat in on the disciplinary meeting. The feeling in the meeting was that Stokes did not seem to show any contrition at all and when it ended and he got up to leave, Flower – who had stayed quiet up to this point – said to him: “You really don’t want to play for England, do you?” Before he slipped out the door, Stokes replied: “Just watch me, pal.”

He made his Test debut later that year and we’ve been watching him ever since.

I remember also the Bristol incident and how Stokes really went through the mill. The aftermath of that incident, and the ensuing court case, was horrendous for him and it took a strong character to come through it. He returned to the international team on a one-day trip to New Zealand in 2018, which I was also on.

We had a team meeting at the start of the trip and as it started Trevor Bayliss told the group that Stokes would like to say something. He said a few words about how much it meant for him to be reselected and became quite emotional. I think to save him from tearing up Bayliss interjected “OK, Stokesy, that’s enough.”

But Stokes said: “No, I’m not finished yet.” Quick as a flash Moeen Ali butted in: “OK, Stokesy, no need to get punchy.” The whole room erupted in