England captain Ben Stokes has hailed his side for the way they have "bought into" the new aggressive and positive brand of cricket he and Brendon McCullum want them to play.
Stokes and McCullum took over a team that had won just one of their last 17 Test matches and have transformed them into one which has beaten New Zealand, India and South Africa. In fact, England have won six Test matches this summer for the first time since 2004, with their only defeat coming against the Proteas at Lord's last month.
Speaking at the post-match presentation after England sealed a 2-1 win over South Africa at the Oval, Stokes praised the 'rare confidence' his side now has. "I think it has been a great series for us as a team," he said.
"It has been a series where we haven't had any real individual standout performances, but different people throughout the series have put their hands up in crucial periods for us.
"In a team sport that is what you want, you want to be able to turn to different people at different times and hope that they can break the game open for you with ball and bat and that is what we have definitely managed to do this whole series.
"For me, it is about the clarity of the decisions. Me and Brendon are the guys who are sending this message to this group of players, I said to the lads in the dressing room the other day that the person who is delivering the message can only do so much.
"There is a reason why we have gone out and been able to perform and have the confidence in each other to go and do that. That is something that is very rare and something that you don't see that often."
Stokes also said England would continue to play entertaining cricket moving forward, with the Test side set to be back in action in December when they tour Pakistan. "This game here with it being shortened, our main aim was it ending in a result," Stokes added.
"We felt we owed it to ourselves, we owed it to the nation who have shown their support throughout this whole summer towards us and we will always continue to play in a way that we feel is going to entertain people and always look for the positive side of cricket."
