“I think as a player full stop he is probably better than I was at 24”

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Legendary England all-rounder Sir Ian Botham believes that Ben Stokes is a better player than he was at 24.

Botham’s comments come after Stokes scored the second-fastest double hundred and the fastest by an England player during the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Stokes lit up Newlands with his career-best knock of 258, but while Botham actually had a better record than Stokes at the age of 24, the 60-year-old firmly believes that Stokes has been more impressive thus far.

“What I did was yesterday’s news, what he did is today’s news. That’s the way it is,” Botham said. “I think as a player full stop he is probably better than I was at 24, I don’t know. He’s certainly up there.

“He will feel untouchable at the moment. His confidence will be oozing and that will be good for the team as it will ooze onto the team and they will all pick up on that.

“It’s a little bit like being in the jungle – the dominant male lion: the rest feed off it. That’s how he’ll be. He’ll be the dominant male in that side for a few years to come.”

However, the one area in which Stokes needs to improve is his bowling as he has 47 wickets in 21 Test matches at an average of 41.93. In the ongoing series against South Africa, Stokes has not been up to par as he has claimed two wickets in the first two Tests at an average of 75.50.

“I’m sure he’ll take the new ball for England at times, but at the moment there’s healthy competition for it,” Botham said. “His bowling can only get better because he has got all the attributes.

“He’s got pace, he can swing the ball, he can reverse it, he can bowl orthodox…and of course he is terrific fielder, close to the bat, in the covers or mid-wicket, backward point, on the boundary.

“He is not a jack of all trades and master of none, he is actually probably a master of the three most important assets you need and that’s batting, bowling and fielding.”