Stokes credits Farbrace for instilling belief in him

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England allrounder Ben Stokes has described the faith shown in him by England assistant coach Paul Farbrace in 2015 as a turning point in his career.

Farbrace asked Stokes to bat at six during his tenure as imterim head coach after the sacking of Peter Moores.

Since being returned to that number six slot Stokes has not looked back striking five Test centuries including a double ton against South Africa.

With Farbrace set to take charge of the England T20I side for their meetings with Australia and India, Stokes feels he is someone who can instill that same self-belief in others.

Stokes said: “I think that was the turning point for me in international cricket.

“It’s a place where I made my debut, batting at No 6 and being that fourth bowler. I was then in and out of the team and if I was in I was batting at 8.

“So when Farby gave me the opportunity to come back into the side at No 6 again there was that self-belief, knowing that I’ve done this role successfully, whether for England or back at Durham.

“Farby is great at getting the best out of the individual – even for myself, who has played quite a lot over the last three years, he is constantly saying go out, do what you do best and commit to it.

“He’s like that with everyone, whether it’s an experienced guy or a young guy coming in for their first couple of games.”

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Stokes says that once the fear of failure is gone it allows a player to focus on executing what they need to out in the middle.

“When you get that free rein to go out and express yourself as we have done, then that fear and worry of what the reaction might be like in the changing room if it doesn’t come off is gone,” he said.

“You are one hundred per cent committed to what you want to execute out in the middle and as we have been so consistent, we are going to do it more consistently.

“There is no fluke in the turnaround happening so quickly and so well. We have literally every base covered in white-ball cricket.

“Back then compared to now there is a completely different mindset within the team and the management.

“I think we broke it down a bit more back then in terms of 50 overs, whereas now the guys get the responsibility to assess conditions and then make their decisions based on that which, I think, is why we are getting these huge totals consistently.”

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Stokes feels that the missing link for England’s ODI side is being able to get defendable totals on pitches that aren’t great for batting.

“One thing we touched on was that we are great at getting 350-plus but not so good at getting the 250s that might win you games on slow pitches,” added Stokes.

“Working out those wickets is what we probably need to do to take our cricket to the next level.

“We need to understand we are not going to get wickets like Trent Bridge all the time and if we can get scores of 280, 290, even 300, then hopefully we can stay at No 1.”

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