Mark Wood column: 'Ben Stokes trains harder, eats more & has worst music taste of anyone I know'

As Ben Stokes was playing one of the all-time great Test innings, almost single-handedly keeping England in the Ashes, I was in an ante-natal class.

When I left the house, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes were out and I didn't think England had much of a chance. As I was learning how to put on nappies and babygrows, I couldn't see how they were going to get over the line.

There wasn't much phone signal in the hospital. It was only when I came out that I got all these messages - "Stokesy, Stokesy, Stokesy!"

I got back as quickly as I could to watch the highlights, and don't think I spoke to my wife all the way home.

Naturally, I was amazed at what happened - but if there is one man to do something as brilliant as that, it is Ben Stokes.

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Clearly, the England team is full of special cricketers, but these moments seem to be made for Stokesy. He wants to put himself in those situations. Whether it's batting, bowling or fielding, he wants to be the one who's making the difference and winning games for his team.

He has an enormous amount of self-belief. It's not arrogance, but a confidence in his own ability.

Maybe there were times in the past when England teams felt overawed by the likes of Australia, but Stokesy will back himself to succeed regardless of the opponents.

Ben Stokes celebrates scoring the winning runs in a remarkable Ashes Test match at Headingley

A lot of that is down to his preparation. He trains so, so hard and is therefore ready for any situation the game might throw up.

All of the England team really put the effort in during practice - but Stokesy always does more.

So, for example, I'm a bowler. On a typical day, I'll do my bowling, then I'll have about 10 minutes in the nets.

Stokesy will do 40 minutes to an hour batting, then do extra batting. He'll do half an hour of fielding, then bowl for 45 minutes.

Not only that, but he'll stay afterwards to work on something specific. That might be taking 10 extra catches, or concentrating on getting to the ball and releasing it quickly, all at match intensity.

Even somewhere like Sri Lanka, the hottest, sweatiest place to play cricket, Stokesy will do all of that - then go back to the hotel gym and do 30 sprints on the treadmill.

Perhaps he can get through all of that work because he takes on so much fuel. I'm telling you, I have never seen anyone order as much food in a restaurant as Stokesy.

There's never a crumb left and if you try and take anything off his plate, he will have your fingers off. He's like Joey from Friends - Stokesy doesn't share food.

It's the same when he goes to the cinema (he loves the Avengers films). Most people take in ice cream, popcorn or sweets in with them. Stokesy will take everything in - and demolish the whole lot.

As well as going to the cinema, he's happy getting into a good box set. If he finds a series he loves, he will binge watch. For some reason, he's really into murder mysteries and crime shows.

Not only does he watch them, he then tells you everything about them. On the team bus, he'll rattle off the plot, the characters and their mother's maiden names. Basically, once Stokesy has told you about a TV show, there's no need for you to watch it.

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He's incredibly competitive in anything where there can be a winner and a loser. When I play Mario Kart with him and Joe Root, Stokesy will scream at the TV if his character isn't doing what he wants.

Those competitive juices bubble away when he plays golf, which he uses as a way to get away from cricket.

One day during the World Cup, Stokesy and Tom Curran played 54 holes in one day. Not only that, but they did it at three different courses. A round on one course, drive to the next. Eighteen more holes, then the next course.

I don't think TC has played since because he was so shattered.

If there's one negative about Stokesy, it's his taste in music. He says my music is old, but it's actually a good mix. He has a thing for house music that has the car jumping off its wheels.

Back in the day, we used to road trip together. There was one night when I was driving and Stokesy had his music banging away.

He fell asleep, so I thought: 'If I can get the cable, I can get my music on.'

Stokesy, though, had fallen asleep hugging his phone so I couldn't change the tunes.

When I woke him up, he went absolutely ballistic, telling me that the house tunes helped him sleep. I had to buy him one of his favourite things - a carton of milk (full fat, he drinks loads of the stuff) - to get him back onside.

Back when we were at the Durham academy together, public speaking would have been something he shied away from.

Now, when he speaks, everyone listens.

People always speak of him being a leader, which is true, but he's also incredibly loyal, a team-mate who always has your back. Stokesy wants the best for everyone and he's always happy to help others with their game.

After that victory at Headingley, I spoke to the England strength and conditioning coach, Phil Scott. He said the euphoria around the team was like the World Cup final.

However, whereas winning the World Cup was the end of something, there was a strange feeling around the Leeds win, because there are still two Tests to go.

England have to get their minds back on the job, and that is exactly what Stokesy will do.

Ben Stokes and Mark Wood play together at Durham

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Mark Wood was speaking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt.