How Ben Stokes became England’s Mr Nice Guy again – but still crushed New Zealand spirits along the way after Pakistan woes

Two days before England embarked on their now triumphant tour of New Zealand, their fans were treated to the best possible news. Ben Stokes was back – mentally, as well as physically. And England will need both aspects to be in full working order if they are to have a chance of winning in Australia.

Stokes’ journey this winter has mirrored his team’s. He was unhappy in Pakistan, where he felt he let the team down by becoming overly focused on his own fitness, and where England – for the first time in their Test history – let slip a 1-0 lead in a three-match series.

But his pre-Test disposition at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval suggested he had put the recent past behind him, including the traumatic break-in to his family home in Durham during the second Test in Multan.

And, sure enough, Stokes’ improved mood in the country of his birth has released a burden from his players too. In Pakistan, for the first time in his career, he could be seen shouting at them – an aberration for which he later apologised. In New Zealand, he has been all smiles.

When he had Nathan Smith caught down the leg side on Sunday afternoon in Wellington, he laughed apologetically – the gesture of a man who was living the Bazball mantra of not taking things too seriously, rather than simply preaching it. Figures of three for five were his best in Tests since July 2022.

Scores of 80 in four hours at Christchurch and a shot-a-ball 49 not out in Wellington hinted at a new flexibility at No 7, the position he should continue to fill when Jamie Smith returns behind the stumps for England’s first Test in 2025, against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge in May.

Stokes has led his side to a 2-0 series lead – and victory – and they are hunting a whitewash

His value to England’s Ashes hopes will go through the roof if he can keep up form and fitness

Stokes can either knuckle down while Harry Brook above him, or Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse play their shots below. Or he can have a dash himself: after six balls of his second innings at the Basin Reserve he had 19, and New Zealand spirits were crushed.

If the thought of Stokes playing the role of Adam Gilchrist at No 7 ought to give the Australians pause for thought, then his value to England’s Ashes hopes will go through the roof if he remains fit enough to bowl 12 to 15 overs a day.

Stokes remarked earlier this year that his presence as the team’s fourth seamer gave him what felt like several more options – by which he meant he could rotate his three frontline quicks more effectively, and had somewhere to go if Shoaib Bashir’s off-breaks weren’t working.

Between his first full year as a Test cricketer in 2015 and the end of 2020, Stokes bowled an average of 21 overs a Test. Since then, the figure has dropped to below 12. Just 49 of his 207 wickets have come in that time, while his last five-for was in 2017.

His continued fitness will be crucial for another reason. Starting at Perth next November, he may be the only member of the seam attack who plays all five Ashes Tests, and as such will be crucial to allowing the out-and-out quicks – Carse, Mark Wood and possibly Jofra Archer – to rest and rotate. Not for the first time, he will hold the key to England’s chances.

But his influence must extend beyond runs and wickets. Going into Friday night’s third Test in Hamilton, he feels in charge of the team once more, following the injury-induced interregnum that left Ollie Pope in charge and Stokes as an awkward back-seat driver.

His part in the selection of Jacob Bethell at No 3, undeterred by the critics, was classic Stokes. So too his criticisms – containing a bit of truth and a bit of bluster – about the ICC’s World Test Championship and policy on over-rates.

In Pakistan, he was too caught up in his own world to see what was going on around him. In New Zealand, his eyes seem wide open once more. And he, like the team, is loving every minute of it.