Flintoff joins camp as England eyes dominance

Aiming to strengthen their grip on the Test series against India, England are ensuring that there is no dearth of motivation for the younger players in the dressing room.

If Monday saw Moeen Ali join their training to assist Shoaib Bashir, leaving the young off-spinner ecstatic, Tuesday had former all-rounder Andrew Flintoff being part of the final practice session ahead of the second Test at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday. England lead 1-0 in the five-match series after winning the opener in Leeds.

And trust Flintoff to instil some of his feistiness in the already aggressive camp.

On the eve of the game, Stokes was asked about the idea behind the trend of bringing England greats back to the dressing room on a regular basis.

"It's been a constant thing for us to get some of the greats who are representing England into the environment and helping out. Those conversations that you have around the nets, natural conversations that you do have with the people who do come in, are so valuable to players.

"It's amazing how many conversations you can have in a social environment,” said Stokes.

The England captain said that Bashir was "buzzing" after his chat with Moeen.

"It doesn't always have to be in a boardroom or around a table talking about specific things...I think it's great for Bashir to meet Moeen... It's amazing they've been met until yesterday, which I found amazing.

"Bashir is absolutely buzzing... Times that we can get people like that into the dressing room and offering their advice to specific individuals is, it's great for this team," added the skipper.