Roarsome Stokes shows why he sees himself as England's game-changer

ONE of Ben Stokes's first decisions as England's Test captain was to move himself down the batting order, to No6.

- Will Macpherson

Having started out at No6, and spent most of the early part of his career there, Stokes's class and the general poverty of England's batting saw him promoted to No5 in 2019. He did well in the position, averaging almost 40 and scoring five hundreds, including one on the tour of the Caribbean this year.

But Stokes felt inhibited batting so high up the order. He sees himself as an allrounder, and a game-changer, rather than a game-shaper. His desperation to be involved in all facets of the game, and indeed life, is among the defining features of the documentary about him that is released on Amazon Prime this week.