Joe Root and Ben Stokes lighting up English cricket with a laugh

'Me and Joe are very similar and we are having a laugh with each other. We are not taking things too seriously'

(Investec)

Twenty-four-year-old Ben Stokes and 25-year-old Joe Root spend a lot of time together. They are two of the few England cricketers who play all three formats of the game and these two thrilling young talents have forged a close friendship.

When they sit at an interview table together, they talk like they play. Stokes is impulsive and says what he thinks with a cheeky grin, whereas Root is more thoughtful and considered. The pair have spent the morning trying to out-drive each other on the 18th hole of Woburn Golf Course and look relaxed and refreshed during our chat in which they rib and tease, bounce off and disagree good-naturedly with each other. It's a refreshing change and an indictment of the new England era that the players are so relaxed.

Root is asked whether he'd be happy to move up to bat at No 3 for future Test matches given that Trevor Bayliss is of the firm belief that you have your best player at first-wicket down. His answer is from the textbook. “Obviously, I've had a lot of success at No 4 and feel pretty settled but if they want to change things up I'm sure we'll have a discussion and see what is best for the team.”

“I would personally like him to stay at four,” Stokes interjects. “It's a brilliant place for him to be batting. When we've got off to bad starts and lost a couple, he has come in and kept the run rate going and it means he is closer to where I am batting and I enjoy batting with him.

“Me and Joe are very similar and we are having a laugh with each other. We are not taking things too seriously. That lets us both play our natural games and it frees us up even more. Rooty scores quickly and he knows I score quickly so we don't put any pressure on each other,” says Stokes - a reply that elicits a little nod of agreement from Root.

Root is currently ranked the second best batsman in the world and his stock has never been higher - whereas Stokes is trying to bounce back from the nightmare of the last over of the World T20 final when he was hit for four consecutive sixes by Carlos Brathwaite. Inevitably Stokes is asked by the gathered journalists about that over. Before he has a chance to answer, Root immediately jumps in to defend his mate. “It was just phenomenal striking. You can talk about that last over but we just didn't get enough runs. Fair play to Brathwaite, he just smoked it out of the park. You give Ben the ball and in the two games before that he was faultless at the death. It was a no-brainier that he was going to bowl then and my choice would be he'd do it again in the same situation.”

Root went straight over to Stokes at the end of the match and put a consoling arm around him as he crouched broken with his head in hands on the outfield - an image that sums up the close relationship these two young players have. “It was absolutely my first instinct to go up and put my arm round my mate. It was a bit awkward because you don't know how he's going to react when you get there,” Root says with a little wink and a knowing glance to his team-mate “As a side we share the pain.”

Ben Stokes tries to come to terms with World T20 final defeat (Getty)

It is Root who amuses everyone, especially Stokes, when he mimicks the infamous salute that Marlon Samuels gave Stokes as a send off in Grenada last winter. And it is Root who chips in to help Stokes answer the tricky question about how he feels about Samuels. “I'd say he's not on your Christmas card list."

“No. He won't be on my Christmas card list or anything else really,” agrees Stokes.

After the World T20 Samuels described Stokes as a "nervous laddy and he never learns". "There's a fine line between having a battle and being gracious in victory,“ is the response from Stokes.

The conversation turns to the proposed new points system for international cricket which would give points for wins in Test, one-day and Twenty 20 matches to decide an overall winner - a system already used for the women's Ashes. Root begins to give a positive response when asked what he thinks about the proposal. “I think it'll make it more competitive,” he says. “Well, I think it'll be rubbish,” Stoke interrupts. “I don't see why we should change. I think people who follow the game would wonder 'why are we doing this?' And I would be in the same boat if they try to change it.”

It's been a good year for the sporting stock of South Yorkshire and Root says he was so pleased for Danny Willett and his Masters win. “It was amazing. I've met Danny a few times but I wouldn't say I know him very well.” “Well, he's a good mate now after we backed him at 15-1” Stokes quips before the pair head out to the course to bash some more golf balls around.

Stokes and Root were talking on behalf of Investec - the title sponsor of Test Match cricket. For more on Investec private banking visit investec.co.uk/banking