James Taylor column: England players won’t be split over Ben Stokes return

The Ben Stokes situation isn’t an easy one. As an England fan, you’d want to have him back for what he brings to the side and the sheer spectacle he puts on with bat and ball. He has the absolute X-Factor as a cricketer.

On his recall, though, there’s two very clear camps here: there’s those who believe he has no place in the side at the moment until the completion of the court case, while the other viewpoint is that he has served his time.

He has already missed five Test matches, three one-day internationals and four T20s. Is that punishment enough? Thankfully, it wasn’t for me to decide but the one thing I would say is that I don’t envy the ECB with regards to their decision.

They decided to recall him for the T20s in New Zealand but it’s a case that they’re damned if they don’t pick him and damned if they do, knowing full well they’ll get abuse from the different camps whatever option they decide to pursue.

It’s a no-win situation if you ask me and it’s difficult to say what the right call is. I just don’t know.

But if we talk about him as a cricketer, he will be welcomed back into the England side by his team-mates with open arms.

The England players are all very good mates and they’ve been desperate to have him back.

He’s so important for the balance he brings to the side — this is a guy who can bat, bowl and field at a world-class level. He’d walk into any side in the world.

He can bat in the top five and, in so doing, he’s one of the most destructive batsmen the world has got right now. That’s talent enough in itself.

But he’s also one of the three main seamers in the side and he has a skill level and variety with the ball that’s outstanding.

Added to that, he’s one of the best fielders in the sport, too.

Ben’s a leader on the field as well, which is really important. He’s an immense presence out there and all the guys look up to him. In short, he’s got it all.

I don’t think what’s happened since September will affect him mentally when playing. He’ll be so driven to play and succeed.

He’s so mentally tough. For him, the best thing that can happen is a recall, to get out there on the field of play and forget everything that has happened in the past.

He’s made it clear and, much like his team-mates, he welcomes it with open arms.

People say he wouldn’t have changed the result of the Ashes but, to my mind, he would have made a big difference with the balance he brings and his talent with the bat and ball as discussed.

But more than anything, what was sorely missing was his leadership qualities and ability to lift the players around him.

He’s a player Australia fear and, in the case of New Zealand next month, who will be facing him, it will be a blow to face him.

They would prefer to have Ben (above) stuck at home and not to have to face him, without a shadow of a doubt. He has already been playing some cricket in New Zealand and some of their players have recently seen close hand what he can do. I know him very well and it will have been a tough past few months for him. But he will come back bigger, better and stronger. He’s already a world-class cricketer but what’s great for England is that he can still get better as a player.

It was a joy to see Roy tear Aussies apart

Before the Champions Trophy semi-final last summer, I said in these pages that potentially the best thing that could happen to Jason Roy was for him to be dropped from the England side.

And so it proved — he’s even admitted himself that it was probably what was needed.

His 180 in the opening one-day international against Australia last week showed he was back to his swashbuckling best. I don’t think he has made any major technical changes, it’s just there’s a greater consistency in the way he’s batting.

This is in no way to denigrate from his shot making but he batted with much better options.

Sure, he has the full range of shots but he relied heavily on playing on the front foot and his timing and hooking were spot on. I’d say that 98 per cent of that innings, he played the right shot. He’s a big lad and he was just so destructive.

Basically, he likes whacking cricket balls and he certainly whacked a few on Sunday. In short, he’s a batsman revitalised.

It’s tough when you’re in a rut. You have to surround yourself with good people and be strong enough to tell yourself what you’re doing is right and that things will come good sooner rather than later.

You can see how much he’s relishing having another chance.

After a couple of months of Australia dominating, it was all so refreshing. Roy was undoubtedly England’s match winner but what I like about this squad is that they are full of match winners. England bowled well and took wickets at key moments but they know they can do even better. That’s going to boost the confidence going into tomorrow’s game in Brisbane.

From the start, I picked England to win despite what happened in the Ashes series and that’s not changed to my mind.