'I'm no psycho,' says England's Ben Stokes as he prepares to put World Cup before family HIs temperament will be tested in Sri Lanka where the heat, spinning pitches and opponents who love winding up English players will await. But if he holds his nerve Stokes will seal his all-rounder's spot for the World Cup and runs on turning pitches will go a long way to showing he is making continued progress. He is set to show England the ultimate sign of intent by opting to stay with the team in New Zealand if picked for the World Cup rather than attend the birth of his second child in February. The baby girl is due on Feb 21 next year, two days before England's World Cup match against Scotland in Christchurch. These days it is commonplace for England players to miss Test matches on tour for the birth of a child but the distance involved would make the trip harder in this case, and also Stokes is less sure of his place in the side than others who have flown home to be by their partner's bedside. "I don't want to miss that one [the game against Scotland]," he said. It sounds pretty heartless to say I'm laidback about the birth of my child but I'm lucky that Clare completely understands my job and the situation. "She actually said 'if we tell your daughter the reason you weren't at the birth is you were playing for your country, I reckon she will think that's quite cool."" Stokes won a lot of respect from the Australians for his aggressive approach and refusal to back down in the face of the most hostile environment possible for an England player. But opponents know he has a short fuse and a strength could become a weakness under the intense pressure of, say, a crucial World Cup match. "As I have played a lot more cricket I have learnt you can't let emotion get on top of you because it can actually take away how you deliver on the pitch," he said. As a kid you probably all know I lost my temper quite easily and tended to look away from the actual game itself. Now I know how to manage that and make sure I'm getting the best out myself. I'm still only 23. I definitely think I have more responsibility now, being quite a senior player at Durham, and I realise how much responsibility I get given so I think that has helped as well. A run of six noughts in 12 innings for England was a blip for Stokes whose talent again shone through at the end of the season when he whacked Nottinghamshire for 164 in a Royal London Cup semi-final, the kind of strokeplay England's 50-over team cannot afford to ignore for long. "For me at the moment it is about getting a solid position in the [England] team," he said. I sort of know my role more with the ball but I had a chat with [Peter] Moores towards the end of the one-day series about batting seven and having that chat did do me some good about how to play at seven because you can be stuck in two completely different positions. You can lose early wickets and have to build an innings which i'm more used to but then you can also be in the situation where you go in at the end and try and get as many runs as possible. So it's just being versatile. Investec, the specialist bank and asset manager, is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. Visit investec.co.uk/cricket or follow us @InvestecCricket