Ben Stokes believes he has matured into a player that youngsters coming into the England team can look up to and learn from.
The 25-year-old all-rounder, his country's new Test vice-captain, says he has moved away from being a player who relies on instinct alone to one focused on becoming a consistent performer.
He felt the early signs of that transformation were in evidence during the tough tour of India over the winter, where Stokes' performances offered a rare bright spot for the tourists.
"I can't be the player I was at 18, 19, thinking if it goes well, it goes well, if it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm one of the senior players in the team. The younger, less experienced guys need to see me working on stuff," he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
"We've got players coming through, Haseeb Hameed, Ben Duckett, they are going to look to me the way I looked at players when I came into the team. I watched how they trained - Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Alastair Cook - and I knew why it went well for them. I want the players to know why it goes well for me, to know it comes back to how hard I train.
"The way I see it, my personality is always going to come out, but there are times that call for a different way of playing, situations where I need to dig in, just bat time for the team. I feel more equipped to do that now. I know if I get in and stay in, things will happen anyway, because I'm a naturally aggressive player. I don't have to force it.
"I used to be happy with a quick 30. But that isn't helping the team when one-day scores of 380 are becoming the norm. And who knows what will be a good score in 10, 20 years time, when the next generation start playing? It could be 380 is a losing score.
"A few years back I said that I had come to the understanding that I was a player who could be brilliant, but then maybe not hit that peak again for six months or so. I really regret saying it. I wouldn't want it said about me now. I want to be a consistent performer. Sure, I'd love to do something brilliant now and then - but in between I don't want nothing, nothing, nothing."
Source: PA
