Ben Stokes: Joe Root has got to take a lot of credit for captaining the side for six years in the way he did

Ben Stokes has praised his partners, and particularly former skipper Joe Root, for the smooth progress in England’s playing style and group culture while England has won six out of their seven Tests the most recent of them being a nine-wicket victory against South Africa.

Ben Stokes has praised his partners, and particularly former skipper Joe Root, for the smooth progress in England’s playing style and group culture. This summer, England has won six out of their seven Tests the most recent of them being a nine-wicket victory against South Africa that sealed the series in style.

“Joe has got to take a lot of credit for captaining the side for six years in the way he did,”

Stokes said.

“To then buy into something completely different to how Joe wanted to operate, everyone has brought into it. I have been very thankful that I have had a group of lads who have brought into and understood the bigger picture of what I and Baz [McCullum] are trying to achieve.”

For this third and final Test against South Africa at the Oval, England was without Jonny Bairstow, undoubtedly England’s player of the summer. Stokes was happy that the team could find “different people” at different times to stand up and convey England to success.

“It has been a great series for us as a team,”

Stokes said.

“We have had no real individual, standout performances but different people have put their hands up in crucial periods for us.

“In a team sport that is what you want, you want to turn to different people at different times and hope they can break the game open for you with ball and bat. That is what we managed to do throughout this whole series.”

“There is a reason we have been able to go out and perform and have the confidence in each other to go and do that. That is very rare. With this game being shortened, our main aim was to make sure it ended in a result. We felt we owed it to ourselves; we owed it to the nation who have shown support throughout this whole summer.

“We will always continue to play in a way that is going to entertain people and always look at the positive side of cricket.”

Stokes talked about the Test being played in the shadow of Queen Elizabeth II’s demise, which had prompted a suspension of play on the scheduled second day. The England skipper said he had “never experienced anything like that” before.

“I’ll never forget walking down the steps out of the changing room to complete silence,”

said Stokes.

“We didn’t know that was going to happen. The silence was deafening. It was incredible.

“You could see the upset but also the amount of respect everyone has for the Queen and her service to the country, and all around the world.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it before and it was seriously special to be part of it. To sing the anthem with a little change was special again. I will never forget that day.”