Craig Overton: “When I get the opportunity to bowl it’ll be similar sort of skills to Stokes”

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Craig Overton has insisted that he is capable of taking over Ben Stokes’ role during the Ashes, which begins on November 23 in Brisbane.

Overton has yet to play international cricket, but was called up to the Ashes squad on the back of a highly successful county season with Somerset.

Overton may have averaged 15.94 with the bat, but he made up for it with the ball as he took 46 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 22.39.

The 23-year-old will have an opportunity to make his presence felt when England take on a Western Australia XI in a two-day warm-up match at the WACA on Saturday.

“Stokes is probably a little bit of a better batter than me, that’s one thing I’m trying to work on to try and get similar to him,” Overton was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “Our bowling is pretty similar, so when I get the opportunity to bowl it’ll be similar sort of skills to Stokes. With the bat, I’ll try to replicate him as much as possible.

“I’ve got the skills to bat and hit it quite hard, that’s the way I like to play. I’m not one to hang around and get those sort of runs, I like to hit boundaries.”

Even though the spotlight will be on the England team after Stokes was withdrawn from the squad following an alleged street brawl outside a nightclub in Bristol, Overton is confident that his team-mates will set the right example throughout their time in Australia.

“It’s about making sure that we still have fun out here and that we’re in control of what we’re doing,” he said. “We don’t want to be in school again.

“As professional sportsmen, you’ve always got to be aware of that [off-field behaviour], It’s just the way it is. You’ve just got to be careful with what you do. When you have the time to have fun, you have fun then.”