Sir Andrew Strauss says England are playing for “high stakes” this summer, pinpointing Ben Stokes’ form with the bat as key to his longevity as Test captain.

Almost five months have passed since the Ashes ended in a chaotic 4-1 defeat, with England finally ready to resume red-ball duty when they take on New Zealand at Lord’s on Thursday.

Stokes’ status as skipper was never seriously threatened during a winter review that saw the team’s core leadership retain their jobs but, while his bowling returns have been on the up over the last 18 months, he averaged only 18.40 with the bat in Australia and has just one century in his last 46 innings.

He turns 35 on day one of the first Test and head coach Brendon McCullum has already signalled that he is set to drop down a spot to number seven in the batting order, switching places with wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.

But Strauss, who captained his country for 50 Tests as a top-order batter, insists he must start producing important runs again to shore up his position.

“It’s high stakes, but the stakes are always high and I don’t think you’d want it any other way,” he told the Press Association, ahead of the Ruth Strauss Foundation’s ‘Red For Ruth’ fundraiser at the home of cricket on Friday.

“I know the feeling when you are coming towards the back end of your career and you’re increasingly involved in strategic decisions, trying to get the best out of your team. But you also need to focus on yourself and make sure you are still performing well.

“I think if he doesn’t do that, that will sap his energy and then it might be something that curtails the length of time that he can carry on for.

“His real challenge is to make sure he performs on the field, which means keeping himself fit and finding a batting method that allows him to put in those incredible match-winning contributions that he’s managed over the course of his career. I don’t think we saw a lot of that in Australia.

“Ben has got such great respect as a captain and his players want to play for him, so I think the question of how he can evolve things will really get his juices flowing.”

Since the death of his wife to a non-smoking lung cancer in 2018, Strauss has seen the foundation he founded in her name raise over £4million, support more than 5,000 families dealing with an incurable parental diagnosis and trained in excess of 1,750 healthcare professionals.

The Ruth Strauss Foundation has now taken the decision to merge its activities and staff with Maggie’s, a charity which operates a network of 27 dedicated cancer care centres across the country.

And in his new role as an honorary patron of Maggie’s, Strauss will continue relying on the sport that made his name for support.

“The cricket community has given us this extraordinary platform to tell our story, to explain what we do and bring to life some of those individual battles that the families are going through,” he said.

“I think Red For Ruth has become part of the cricket calendar. It’s not just a day, it’s a moment where cricket combines with its incredible reach to provide social impact and to actually do something more than just providing entertainment for people.

“We want to take what we’ve done now and make it bigger and better over time. I was very fortunate, as a result of my career and those amazing times I had in an England shirt, to have a public profile to launch the foundation and I’m incredibly proud of the fact that we’re now helping thousands of families that are going through this ordeal.”

:: The Ruth Strauss Foundation offers resources and support, including one-on-one counselling, peer support groups, and online materials to help families navigate an incurable cancer diagnosis. On Friday 5th June, Lord’s, the Home of Cricket, will once again turn red for #RedforRuth to help raise awareness and vital funds to help families facing incurable cancer. To find out more visit www.ruthstraussfoundation.com