‘If you want to play for us, you’ll have to bat like us’…Stokes sends warning to England hopefuls

Ben Stokes sent a stark message to Test hopefuls throughout the country after England completed a remarkable 3-0 win over world champions New Zealand: if you want to play for us, you’ll have to bat like us.

His team wrapped up the whitewash in quick time on the final afternoon in Leeds, with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow knocking off the remaining 113 runs in just 15.2 overs after rain had delayed the start for two and a half hours.

It meant England had scored at 4.54 runs an over across the series – their fastest ever rate for a series of three Tests or more.

Ben Stokes (centre) captained England to a 3-0 series whitewash against New Zealand 

‘These last three games should have sent the message to people who aspire to play Test cricket for England over the next two or three years,’ he said.

‘It’s not necessarily your stats, or anything like that. It’s the manner that you play which is probably going to be first and foremost on the selectors’ minds.

‘What I think we’ve done over the last three weeks is make people enjoy watching Test cricket again. And I’d like to think that people watching know what they have to do to try and bang the door down and get in this team.’

In successive Tests, England have knocked off targets of 277 in 78.5 overs, 299 in 50 and 296 in 54.2, winning by five wickets, five wickets and seven wickets. The last two victories, in particular, have come at an almost one-day rate of scoring.

Stokes took over the test captaincy in April and has made the perfect start in his new role

‘I knew everyone would buy into the new mentality that me and Brendon have set out with his team, but I didn’t think it would go this well, to be honest,’ said Stokes. ‘I couldn’t have asked for more from anyone.’

Speaking to the English media for the first time since the series started, McCullum told Sky Sports it had been ‘an incredible few weeks’.

And he revealed that Stokes had suggested England try to knock off the runs on the fourth evening, which would have required them to score at nearly seven and a half an over.

‘I’m aggressive, but I reckon he might have me covered,’ said McCullum. ‘He came in last night and we needed 297 off 40 overs: “We’ll knock it off tonight with the extra half hour.” I was like, let’s just see how we get on!

Stokes and England head coach Brendon McCullum have instilled a new mentality in the squad

‘But he’s been outstanding. He’s clearly a leader the guys want to follow. There have been key moments when the guys look around to see whether he’s going to stay on the same message. But it’s been, “let’s head towards the danger”. His ability to control the field has been fantastic too. It makes my job as coach very easy.’

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was asked whether he had thought it possible to bat in Test cricket the way Bairstow had.

‘It’s not meant to be possible, but it certainly was,’ he said. ‘He had the courage to do it. It goes slightly against the grain of what we’ve seen in Test cricket, although not with Baz [McCullum] in Test cricket.’