“You very quickly find out who is a good bullshitter,” says Ben Stokes, laughing down the phone line during a recent drive between London and his home in the north-east.
Stokes has agreed to a chat about the World Cup defence that starts in India next week but we have taken a scenic route, veering into the South American dice game called Perudo that has become something of a craze in the England squad. Andrew Flintoff was among the keenest players, Stokes’s fellow all-rounder having been part of the coaching set-up following last year’s awful car crash on the set of Top Gear.
