Ben Stokes reveals how an Australian favourite has helped him improve his game

Ben Stokes says he has come back from the Indian Premier League an improved cricketer and has revealed that part of the reason for that was the help he received from Australia captain Steve Smith.

The England all-rounder went into the tournament as the most expensive overseas player of all time but lived up to his £1.7million price tag with performances that saw him named as this season’s Most Valuable Player in the IPL.

Among a string of star turns for the Rising Pune Supergiant was a spectacular unbeaten 103 from 63 balls against Gujarat Lions earlier this month – Stokes’ maiden T20 century.

And while Pune lost Sunday’s IPL final against Mumbai Indians by one run – a match Stokes missed as he had returned to England duty – the Durham player’s displays in his first season in the competition means he is likely to command a fee in next year’s auction in excess of £2m.

England take on South Africa in a three-match one-day series starting at Headingley on Wednesday before they open their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh at The Oval on June 1.

Eoin Morgan’s team also face Australia in the group phase before locking horns with their old rivals in next winter’s Ashes series Down Under. So, the revelation that Smith, the Pune captain, tutored Stokes during the IPL is intriguing.

“From playing with a guy you play against – England v Australia and the hype around England v Australia – then playing with him, it was really good actually,” said Stokes.

“I remember doing a batting session with some power hitting where the guy who I will actually be playing against in the Ashes in our winter was helping me, which is something that you would never be able to fathom when you are playing against each other. The IPL is probably the only place where you get that.”

Asked if he was sure Smith was trying to help him, the 25-year-old replied through a grin: “It would be a good tactic if he wasn’t.”

Stokes, who took 12 wickets during his time in the IPL, also says his work with South African bowling coach Eric Simons bodes well for England.

“I think my bowling has gone up another level, working with Eric,” he said. “All in all I think my areas are a lot better and tighter than they have been recently in one-day cricket which came from just working solely with him over the six weeks I was there. You would hope that coming away from that tournament all parts of my game have got better.”

England’s form since their miserable first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand means they go into the Champions Trophy with a realistic chance of winning their first major 50-over title.

“I think we’re the favourites going into the tournament and we’ve earned the right with how we’ve played over the last two years,” said Stokes.

“We’ve been amazing and we go into this knowing teams are maybe fearing us. But we’re keeping our feet firmly on the ground. We just know as long as we play to our capabilities we’re in with a good chance.”

Playing the IPL at the start of England’s busiest-ever summer and a winter that will begin in late October and won’t conclude until April next year, could be seen as a danger to a player as important as Stokes. The man himself, though, has played down fears of burnout.

“The last eight to ten months have been very full on,” he said. “The schedule is very tight and jam-packed but I wouldn’t want to do anything else.

“We just have to see how the body copes. I certainly hope fitness-wise I’ll be able to play everything in the next two or three years.”

England’s players went on a four-day training camp to Spain last week, where fielding and fitness were the main focus.

Kevin Pietersen, who was a team-mate of Stokes when the all-rounder made his Test debut during the 2013-14 Ashes tour, criticised the trip, saying it was “pathetic” that Stokes and Jos Buttler, who played for Mumbai, missed the finale to the IPL season to “drink a few beers” in Spain.

England’s players hit back via social media, posting pictures of themselves in the gym with the hashtag #beersinSpain.

A similar trip to the same Desert Springs resort in Almeria before the 2015 Ashes series proved crucial to helping England win that series.

And Stokes says: “I think there was a lot of criticism purely because it was in Spain. If we’d done something like that in England I don’t think there would have been a bean said.

“Obviously you associate Spain with sunshine, beer, parties and not hard work. But we did a lot of hard work.”