Ben Stokes has made a stunning impact since being appointed England captain, taking over a side which had won just one of their last 17 Test matches and guiding them to five wins in six so far this summer.
The all-rounder has been widely praised for his leadership skills and put in a player of the match performance as England beat South Africa by an innings and 85 runs in the second Test at Old Trafford to level the series.
Stokes scored an excellent hundred to leave his side in control of the match and then bowled a stunning spell of 14 consecutive overs on day three, ending the resistance of Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen who had frustrated England for the best part of two hours.
During Stokes' mammoth spell which allowed England to wrap up the win on day three, former England captain Michael Atherton offered some insight into the 31-year-old's leadership style and revealed that he has taken inspiration from Brad Pitt's character Don "Wardaddy" Collier in the 2014 World War II film 'Fury'.
"I was asking him about leadership, his learnings around leadership and had he read anything about," Atherton said on Sky Sports . "He said 'not really, it's very instinctive' but he said he does identify, bizarrely, with certain characters in TV and film and he mentioned the film 'Fury'.
"There's a tank commander in 'Fury' who when there's an oncoming German battalion and they're at this crossroads the tank commander tells his crew to disappear and they don't have to sacrifice themselves, but he's going to stand and hold the fort.
"It's Brad Pitt who plays it and [Stokes] says he sees that as leadership, the idea that you won't ask your players to do anything you're not expected to do. That's why he bowls the hard overs."
And when asked about his 14-over spell after the win, as if to illustrate Atherton's point, Stokes said: "When you are bowling with the older ball when nothing is really happening, you have to create your own energies and own theatre around that.
"It's something I've done over my career with the older ball, just to try and run in and hit the wicket as hard as I can and try and make something out of nothing. Then let the new-ball bowlers take the rewards at the end."
