Ben Stokes

When Ben Stokes called the earlier generation of England captains who had criticised his team's Ashes preparations "has-beens" this week, the arrow flew at Ian Botham, the foremost grumbler about England's warm-up schedule in Perth.

- Paul Hayward

Stokes is Lord Botham's protégé the most gifted all-rounder since the yeoman "Beefy" was in his prime in the 1970s and 80s. Surely Stokes wouldn't be rude about his great forerunner? Michael Vaughan and Graham Gooch had shared Botham's misgivings. Vaughan instructed Stokes to "respect" their views.

Here was the encapsulation of Stokes's character: no holding back, no deference to authority. A diplomat from the old school of captaincy wouldn't have dared to be so dismissive. But then Stokes was never the establishment type. With bat and ball, and his heroics in tight spots (a strong Botham echo), he has ascended to a kind of untouchability. He does - and says - what he wants, and to hell with people who don't like it.

From enfant terrible to statesman is an unusual trajectory. English cricket crowds love his miracles and admire his nonconformism. He's a national team leader from outside the traditional private school channels. He brawled in the streets of Cumbria as a youth, once broke his hand punching a locker, and might have lost his career altogether after a fist fight outside a Bristol nightclub - in defence, it later turned out, of two fellow night owls who were being homophobically taunted.

Stokes, 34, was born in Christchurch in New Zealand, but raised in Cumbria, where his family relocated when he was 12. He was educated in Cockermouth's state comprehensive. His late father, Ged, was a notoriously hard rugby league international who asked for a dislocated finger to be amputated so he could return quicker. Stokes jnr gives a crooked finger salute to his departed dad during matches and inherited his courage in the face of injuries.