SUPERHERO

A thrilling, big-hitting batter A fast, wicket-taking bowler Our best fielder and catcher ..and that’s why Ben Stokes is cricket’s new Star all-rounder still blown away that he’s become a role model to kids

BEN STOKES does everything at full tilt. It is how he bats, how he bowls and how he takes on life. It is why teams are prepared to part with huge sums to sign him, it is why England are doing their best to look after him and it is why young kids want to be him. He is the modern game’s superstar all-rounder, bowling at 90mph one day, smashing the ball out of the ground the next. And yet, despite becoming a talisman of the England team at 26, the idea he is a hero to thousands of youngsters up and down the country floors him. “I get a lot of tweets from parents filming their kids and saying, ‘Look at him, he’s two years old and he’s smacking it out of the park’ or, ‘Here’s my little 10-year-old and you’re his hero.’ And it blows me away,” he admitted. “I would never have imagined I’d be told I’m someone’s hero. It is pretty cool to hear. “You do take a step back and take a moment when you hear of young kids aspiring to be like you. Growing up in Cockermouth and Cumbria getting told off in school, you don’t think that is something that will happen to you. “But it’s also something we want to do as a team. We want to inspire the next generation to want to play cricket and to want to play for England and for them to know what an amazing honour it is. “We want kids to aspire to be as good as they can be and if we can have any influence on that in the current England side from watching us then that is great.” Some kids looking up to him might also be impressed by the trappings of his success after he took delivery of a brand new supercar, his one indulgence from his £1.7million Indian Premier League pay cheque. “I won’t be touching the rest for a long time,” he promised. “But I had to treat myself, and I love cars.” Named player of the tournament as his Rising Pune Supergiant side reached the IPL final meant he could leave India with his head held high, satisfied he had met his own standards. He added: “Looking back on the price tag everyone talks about, the fact is I would have left with the same amount of money had I done poorly or had I done well. So the only way I was going to judge myself was by how I did on the pitch not by the price. “Thankfully things did go pretty well in that sense so I left India with my shoulders up and chest out because I felt good that I’d managed to produce big performances for the team. “If it had gone the other way and I hadn’t managed to play well then I would have felt like I’d let myself down. It was an amazing six weeks I spent out there, but it does take some getting used to. “Just going down for breakfast takes ages because there are people waiting to mob you. I do feel for the Indian players who have it all the time.” Unsurprisingly Stokes wants to keep going back to India now he has had a taste and plans on being in next year’s mega auction when every player is up for grabs. Before then there is the small matter of this summer and then the Ashes where he will face his Pune team-mate and Australia captain Steve Smith. Stokes adds: “Are we friends? Aye. We got on well together but I think we both know when it comes to Ashes cricket and Australia against England it is back to how it is. “If you spend five or six weeks on the same team you’re bound to get to know them because you get to see the real person and spend time with them. “But I’m not going to be shy of saying something to him if I need to out there, and I don’t think he would be either, so that is probably where we are.”