Among Ben Stokes’ strengths as England captain has been his capacity to show the way. At the start of his tenure, as he sought his team to forge a new, ultra-attacking style with the bat, it was Stokes who led the charge with as cavalier an approach as any.
When, during the Ashes, Stokes urged his teammates to “show some dog”, it was he who first abandoned those long-held principles with a blockathon in Brisbane. Good captains have a mantra of never asking a player to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself. As the make-up of the squad has changed, that ability to set an example has become all the more important.
