For a player who has pushed England to unprecedented heights, Ben Stokes will strap the team to his back once again and hope to carry the nation to its cricketing Everest: reclaiming the Ashes on Australian soil.

The flame-haired all-rounder has delivered repeatedly on the game's biggest stages, securing white-ball World Cups with career-defining knocks. But leading England to Ashes triumph over the next seven weeks would leave few in doubt about the 34-year-old's place among England's all-time greats.

Only three England captains have secured the urn in Australia in the last 50 years, with Andrew Strauss the last in 2010/11. "I've come here absolutely desperate to get home on that plane in January as one of the lucky few captains from England who have come here and been successful," Stok

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