A T20 FLOP? NO... BEN IS THE MAN WE FEAR MOST

Proteas skipper de Kock wary of Stokes despite his poor T20 record as he kept wicket while Mirror columnist hit a brutal IPL ton

BEN STOKES has been picked out by South Africa as the man who could hurt them most this week – despite his anaemic T20 England record.

After watching him closer than anyone else could during his 107 not out for the Rajasthan Royals last month, Proteas skipper Quinton de Kock told his players to find a way to stop Stokes with the bat, ball and in the field.

It is incredible to think the Mirror Sport columnist has still to score a half century in the shortest format for his country, even though he operates in the middle order.

He averages less than 18 with the bat in his 26 games and more than 40 with the ball.

De Kock was Mumbai Indians wicket-keeper as Stokes thrashed the eventual winners to all parts, reminding him it does not really matter which format, the allrounder is a 24 carat match-winner.

“I’m not really a big believer in records, especial ly when it comes to that sort of record,” said de Kock, ahead of today’s First T20. “I just played in a game where I was the keeper and Ben Stokes smashed a hundred against us, so he’s still a very topclass player and adds a lot of value to that team.

“Stokesy is one guy who can hurt you with hi s bowling, do something spectacular in the field and in batting, we know how dangerous he is.

“There are a lot of guys to watch out for, you can’t pick just one guy. Any player in the England team, if they come off they can really hurt you.

“There’s Jof (Archer), there’s Jos ( Buttler), Jonny ( Bairstow), all these guys. The whole squad has dangerous players.”

Squeezing all those players into one team is the challenge facing skipper Eoin Morgan who admitted in Cape Town he is still a way off knowing his best team.

Moeen Ali and Sam Billings look like being the batsmen to miss out at the outset, with the skipper likely to come in as low as six in order to make the most of the firepower above him.

With the ball, England need to find out who can best support Archer and Chris Jordan in the pace department, with the brothers Tom and Sam Curran set to get the nod, although leftarmer Reece Topley has not been brought out here merely to top up his tan.

Morgan said: “I don’t know my best XI, and I don’t think this series will clear it up.

“There are probably seven or eight guys who are pretty strong candidates but this is the first time in a long time when we’ve had a fullstrength side available.

“A win would be great but, given the luxury in players we have at our disposal, it’s more important we get their roles right.”