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Ben Stokes wants England whitewash of New Zealand to serve as 'a message'

Want to play Test cricket for England? Better learn how to throw the bat around, says Ben Stokes.

Ben Stokes says he wants England's thrilling Test series win over New Zealand to be "a message" for every young player in the country.
England bludgeoned their way to a series whitewash over the Black Caps thanks to some explosively aggressive batting.
The ultra-aggressive mindset certainly served England well, despite critics saying it was against the spirit of Test match cricket, and Stokes says players now know what mindset they must demonstrate to get a Test call-up.
"I think these last three games should have sent a message to people who aspire to play Test cricket for England over the next two or three years, at least," Stokes said.
"I'd like to think that people watching know what they have to do to try and bang the door down and get in this team.
"I would say it's about the manner and the way that you're going to play, whether that be with a ball or a bat in your hand. It's not necessarily your stats, or anything like that, it's the manner that you play which is probably going to be first and foremost in the selectors' minds.
"What we want to do is build on this. It's not just about us at the moment. It's about the future as well and what I think we've done over the last three weeks is make people enjoy watching Test cricket again.
"If we were on the wrong side of results of these games, if they played out the same way but we'd lost, I would have walked off a very, very happy captain with the way that everybody's applied themselves and the attitude they've given to every single day, every single session, every single hour of these three Test matches."
England are attempting something genuinely revolutionary under Ben Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum, and Stokes admits he wasn't expecting it to bed in so successfully and so easily.
He did, though, expect to receive the support of his team-mates.
"I knew that everyone would buy into the new mentality me and Brendon set out, but I didn't think it would go this well to be honest," he confessed.
"Coming away with a 3-0 victory over the world Test champions is a great start and something to build on and make sure we keep carrying this mindset forward."

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