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Stokes hits out at 'silly' Aussie mind games

England allrounder claims Cardiff victory was 'revenge' for Ashes whitewash and vows he won't be put off his game

Ben Stokes has labelled Australia's attempts to put him off his game as "pretty silly" and claimed the Cardiff Test was "revenge" for the 5-0 humiliation England suffered in the 2013-14 series in Australia.

England's flame-haired allrounder has a reputation for a fiery temper after breaking a wrist punching a locker in anger and was also caught up in a war of words with West Indies ' Marlon Samuels during England's 1-1 series in the Caribbean in April.

However, he did not rise to the bait when Nathan Lyon and David Warner attempted to put him off his game by delaying his idiosyncratic end-of-over ritual of sweeping his bat through the popping crease in an arc.

 

Video: Lyon and Warner's mind games with Stokes

"That was pretty silly, I thought," Stokes told mailonline.co.uk

"Rooty (Joe Root) said that if they’re trying to do that, they must be thinking we’re on top. So if they’re going to do that for the rest of the series then fair enough.

"Haddin picked up on my habit when we were in Australia last time. He said: 'You’re still doing that, then?' I said 'Yeah'.

"Then Lyon and Warner thought it would be funny to stand in my way.

"I just said: 'You can stand there all day because I’m not moving until you move. If you want to get your captain’s over-rate down then so be it.'

"I guess they wanted me to react, but it just didn’t work."

Stokes scored 52 and 42 for England and took the key wicket of Adam Voges late on the second day as England romped to a 169-win in the series opener in the Welsh capital.

It was England's first Test victory over the Australians since the fourth Test of the 2013 series in Durham, having been comprehensively beaten on Aussie soil in a memorable 2013-14 summer.

"When Rooty caught the catch at the end it was like revenge," Stokes said.

"When they were eight wickets down I was thinking about how we felt when we were getting beaten every game.

"After what they did to us in Australia it was pretty cool."

Video: Stokes 'shooshed' off by Starc

England's sole shining light in the 2013-14 summer, with a century in Perth, Stokes has thrived since being recalled to the England team this year and was a standout performer against New Zealand in Test and one-day cricket.

Tasked as England's hard-hitting No.6 and second-change seamer, he has drawn comparisons to England's Andrew Flintoff, the hero of the memorable 2005 series. It is a role the Christchurch-born 24-year-old is relishing.

"We know we’ve got to deliver and keep the pressure on," Stokes said. "It’s what Jimmy (Anderson) and Broady (Stuart Broad) do all the time.

"Me and Woody (Mark Wood) have got a lot of responsibility and we thrive off that.

"That’s how the best teams in the world do it. If one guy is not particularly doing well, the other is generally holding an end up or taking wickets.

"That’s how it’s been since the summer started against New Zealand.

"Everyone has come in, put their hand up and done really well. If we go 2-0 up here, we will be in a really good position to win the Ashes."

Video: England's shining light in 2013-14

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