Tuesday 25 July 2017 15:40, UK
England vice-captain Ben Stokes says there will be no "bad blood" between himself and South Africa's Kagiso Rabada in the third Test at the Oval, which begins on Thursday.
Pace bowler Rabada had to miss the second Test at Trent Bridge because of an ICC suspension triggered when he swore at Stokes, after dismissing him during the series opener at Lord's.
But Stokes, who has previously been reprimanded for his on-field behaviour, says Rabada's aggressive approach does not trouble him in the slightest.
"It is part of him as a cricketer and why he has been successful," Stokes told Sky Sports News.
"The ICC were the people who locked down on that and gave him that ban but I don't hold any grudges about people wanting to be like that.
"It shows how much they care and want to perform for their country. I have got that side to me as well, so I don't think there is ever going to be any bad blood if he chooses to go on like that."
Stokes is more concerned about the manner in which England slumped to a crushing defeat in the second Test, which levelled the four-Test series ahead of their Oval meeting.
England batting's approach was heavily criticised after the Trent Bridge defeat, in which they were bowled out for just 205 and 133, with some pundits suggesting the players lacked the desire to grind out Test runs.
Stokes, however, feels it was more a question of adapting too slowly to the match situation.
"It is a pretty easy thing to say when we have put in a performance like that with the bat," the all-rounder said.
"No one is ever going to get questioned in that changing room about their fight and desire of wanting to perform for England.
"I think the biggest question is just being able to adapt better. We obviously didn't quite get to grips with that in that last innings.
"So, I think the quicker we can learn to adapt to different situations, the better off we will be.
"It is 1-1, both games have been pretty one-sided, and we just need to make sure we come out here and put in a better performance than we did at Trent Bridge and get on the front foot in the series."
England have now had time to reflect on the disappointing defeat, and Durham all-rounder Stokes is optimistic that an improved display is on the way.
"You take good performances and bad performances in your stride," he said. "And I think it's all about how we come back in this Test, which will prove how good of a side we are.
"Obviously, it wasn't an ideal performance from us as a team and we know that.
"It's good that we managed to get time away and sort of look back and assess where we went wrong and hopefully we can right the wrongs this week."
Stokes also paid tribute to England's women's team, who won a thrilling World Cup final against India in front of a sold-out Lord's on Sunday.
"It's an amazing achievement for them to win a World Cup in England," he said.
"It proves just how far the game has come for them. The amount of people that watched, the amount of coverage it gets.
"I actually ended up watching a bit of the game as well and, being an Englishman myself, it's always good to see an English team lift the World Cup."
Watch the third Test between England and South Africa - brought to you in association with Sky Ocean Rescue - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday.
