We got the Ben Stokes we know and this England side needs, says Alastair Cook

In Englandrsquos first innings total of 499 captain Ben Stokes came back to his runscoring best by hitting a fine 80 his best score in Test cricket since 2023 home summerFormer captain Alastair Cook said he liked the look of Stokesrsquo knock at Christchurch saying it was the version of him people know and the one England needed the most after a disappointing run in the series defeat to PakistanIn Pakistan we didnt see the best of Ben Stokes We found out the reason why which must have been an absolute nightmare with the situation at home But he captained very unStokeslike very passive set fields and didnt change itToday we got the Ben Stokes we know and love and this England side need certainly with the bat he was very aggressive early on The celebrations the passion he is the heartbeat of the side We didnt see any of that in Pakistan but its amazing as a captain Whatever you do youre always focused on and England need him to be up thereTotally and utterly on it and I dont think he was in Pakistan so thats a massive plus and of course his runsIts nice to see him scoring runs because England need it Hes averaged 25 over the last 24 innings or so We know what he can do What do England need We need Ben Stokes firing said Cook on TNT SportsSimilar views were expressed by former fastbowler Steven Finn who pointed out that Stokes was a charged up man in second innings He bowled well as well He was a bit rusty in the first bit of the innings but in the second innings he charged in and hit a couple of batters on the shoulder beating them for bounceThat teamed with his batting and his captaincy he is a talisman Hes amazingly empathetic as a leader which is rare and its because he does both batting and bowling and hes struggled away from cricket as well Those experiences have created this leader whos empathetic and openrdquoUsually a captain would hide away after a series like Pakistan and not confront the things people viewed as observers of the game but he got out there ahead of it and said these are the reasons why I was like that I apologise to my teammates and youre going to see a better version of me in New ZealandrdquoHe is so important for England I think its great that he hasnt put his name into the IPL and has completely committed to Test cricket Fit firing and inform Ben Stokes is going to be the person who leads England to an away Ashes win next year he concludedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever