England captain Ben Stokes falls to defeat against Brendon McCullum in six-hitting contest ahead of third Test with Pakistan… before jokingly reminding the coach he’s previously taken his wicket

England captain Ben Stokes responded to defeat by coach Brendon McCullum in a special six-hitting contest by reminding him that he was still top of the Test sixes list – and had also taken his wicket.

Rehan Ahmed won the team’s overall competition, beating Harry Brook in the final as England enjoyed themselves in their last training session of the tour on the eve of the third Test in Rawalpindi.

But it was Stokes v McCullum that caught the eye, with England’s coach repeating his win at Karachi two years ago by hitting the biggest six of the day, a huge blow down the ground towards the media centre that left Stokes blaming the throwdowns of assistant coach Paul Collingwood.

‘It’s 2–0 to Baz now,’ he said. ‘I’m getting into Colly about looking after the coach a little bit too much. You have to hold your hands up the better man, but I’m still 20-odd ahead of him, and I kept reminding him I got him out, so it’s fine.

Stokes has a world-record 131 Test sixes, with McCullum second on 107. And Stokes took his wicket twice during New Zealand’s Test series in England in 2015.

Stokes insisted ‘I kept reminding him I got him out, so it’s fine’ after the loss in training

Ahmed’s victory, meanwhile, followed news of his recall for the third Test. ‘He was happy,’ said Stokes. ‘He wasn’t odds-on favourite, but he was happy to walk away with the trophy.

‘It was the last training session of a long tour, and we just tried to change it up and get the good vibes going.’