'I'm in a good place' - England's Stokes set to return

Stokes scored an England record 182 against New Zealand after coming out of retirement last month

Date: 21 October Time: 09:30 BST Venue: Mumbai
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Ben Stokes has confirmed he is fit to make his first appearance of the World Cup in England's crucial match against South Africa in Mumbai on Saturday.

England have lost two and won one in his absence, leaving their title defence in a perilous position.

"I have worked very hard to get back to where I am and making myself ready to be available for selection," he said.

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England train at the Wankhede Stadium later on Thursday evening, with Stokes expected to take a full part.

"[I'll] give it a good push but I think everything is pretty good," Stokes said. "I am in a good place."

If England lose to the Proteas they would likely have to win all of their remaining matches to qualify for the semi-finals.

South Africa convincingly won their first two games against Sri Lanka and Australia but were themselves shocked by the Netherlands on Tuesday, two days after England were beaten by Afghanistan.

Coach Matthew Mott revealed on Tuesday that Test captain Stokes spoke to the group in the aftermath of their loss.

"We are only three games into a tournament. [We need to] make sure we keep focusing forward," said Stokes, who came out of retirement in 50-over cricket to play in this tournament.

"There is still a long way to go.

"It was disappointing in the moment but at the end of the day we have lost a game of cricket in a World Cup.

"Everyone is going to lose games and it is one of those things we had to deal with quickly, understand that we didn't perform well but move on and understand we have a lot more cricket left to play in the tournament."

Stokes has proven to be England's talisman throughout his career and his side will hope he can again inspire improvement.

He was player of the match in the final when England won the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand, was in the middle when they won the T20 World Cup final last year and has played a number of crucial innings in Test cricket, most notably his heroic century in the 2019 Ashes at Headingley.

Stokes, though, played down the significance of his return.

"No-one looks to one person in this team to inspire them or anything like that," Stokes said.

"It is not a case of if I do come in then all of a sudden we are going to do well.

"It is just one of those things that gets spoken about a lot but I don't read into too much.

"Everyone that walks out onto that field for England is a match-winner and can do something individually that can win us a game.

"We just need to tone it down a bit on me coming back in."