Former England batsman Mark Butcher believes Cumbrian all-rounder Ben Stokes is a player whose game is based on instinct.

Stokes, from Cockermouth, has made an impressive return to the England fold and will be looking to guide them to a series victory against New Zealand in Dunedin this evening.

England play the Kiwis in the fourth ODI (10pm start) having edged ahead 2-1 in the series with a slender four-run victory in the third game on Saturday.

On his return to the England fold, 26-year-old Stokes has scored 114 runs with the bat and taken four wickets with the ball so far in the series.

Asked how difficult it is for a player to get back up-to-speed at the highest level after an extended absence such as Stokes’ five-month spell out, Butcher said: “That can very much depend on the player.

“I think for somebody like Ben, he does a lot of hard work but his game is based on feel and instinct, it is less of a problem than for guys who are overly technical or reliant on slightly more metronomic ways of going about things.

“It is no surprise whatsoever that he was desperate to come back in and kind of pay back his team-mates for the fact that he was missing for a very tough Ashes tour, and I’ve seen him do it before.

“When he was picked up in the IPL for $1.7m [by Rising Pune Supergiant], he was under huge pressure and everybody thought he might not have the game to score runs on Indian pitches - he scored hundreds, [and] put in man-of-the-match performances.

“Any time the stakes are raised against Ben Stokes, for whatever reason, he always seems to come up with the answer.”

Butcher added in a Sky Sports column: “He’s a fabulous cricketer and you just really hope that first, and foremost, that his career doesn’t get interrupted again by this particular incident.

“And also, that he learns a huge lesson from it and doesn’t have any of this sort of trouble again in his career.”