Ben: We’ll always be positive

Ben Stokes insists that England will be positive in their batting – regardless of the circumstances.

Eoin Morgan’s team are committed to attack whenever possible – and with players like the captain, Stokes, Jos Buttler and several others, they are wellequipped to do so.

“We are always going to try to take the positive route, regardless of the start we get,” said Stokes.

“(We’ll) play every good ball on its merit, but we know we have got to be aggressive and on the front foot, because that is what has made us such a dangerous team.

“Being 35-3 (as against Australia on Saturday) doesn’t mean there is any real reason to change that.

“We are boundary hitters, so we know that if we have a few dot balls it is not going to faze us.”

Stokes is unlikely to be in the squad of 14 set to be named by England today to face South Africa in three Twenty20s this month.

England are expected to rest their Test regulars, who will take part in a round of County Championship day-night fixtures starting on June 26 in preparation for a pink-ball Test against West Indies at Edgbaston in August.

The T20 squad will therefore be notable for the anticipated inclusion of several uncapped players. Lions captain James Vince is an obvious candidate to return alongside Ben Duckett, with Surrey’s Curran brothers and batsmen Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan also in the reckoning.