Revealed: What England cricket captain Ben Stokes said to Harry Kane & Co when delivering motivational Euro 2024 message to Three Lions

World Cup winner Stokes, who now skippers his country at Test level, knows all about delivering under pressure. He is a talismanic presence with bat and ball and has often been the man to dig England out of a hole.

Kane, who takes the armband when leading his country into football fixtures in the men's game, is hoping that he can inspire continental glory in Germany this summer – breaking his own trophy duck in the process. Stokes has been on hand with words of wisdom, as he met up with the England squad at a recent training session.

Gareth Southgate has said, when revealing the message that Stokes got over to those competing on a different sporting stage to the one that he is accustomed to gracing: “Ben Stokes came in, which I thought was a brilliant session. In my head he’s one of the few English sportsmen that I felt could impact them, make them think. He’s authentic, he talked brilliantly about getting the right balance of fearlessness but recognising that anybody’s going to have nerves. It’s still making good decisions under pressure. He was able to talk to them about some leadership aspects, the culture he’d tried to create. I think that backed up some of the things we’re doing so we were pleased that reaffirmed some ideas as well. I just think he’s a hugely impressive guy that’s relatable to their age. And anybody who’s performed as well as he has for England… That was a really good session that worked well for us.”

England will be in friendly action against Bosnia & Herzegovina on Monday, before taking in another warm-up clash with Iceland at Wembley on Friday. After that contest, Southgate will have to cut his 33-man preliminary squad down to a final group of 26 for tournament action.