Stokes and Root seek cross-format gains after World T20 heroics

You'd have thought that Ben Stokes would be sick of the sight of batsmen teeing off after the agonies he endured at the hands of Carlos Brathwaite in the World T20 final in Kolkata earlier this month.

And yet, after spending the morning in the company of Joe Root at Woburn Golf Course in Buckinghamshire, it is safe to surmise that Stokes - and the rest of the England team - have parked that near-miss in India and are ready to take the positives (as only sportsmen can) into their next international assignment: the Test series against Sri Lanka that gets underway next month.

"I'd been back in the country for about eight or nine days before I realised I wanted to get back to training," said Stokes, whose hectic round of sponsors' engagements in recent days - from a game of street cricket in Soho to a bout of WWE in Newcastle - reflects the extent to which his and England's exploits, in victory and defeat, have captured the imagination this winter.