Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce was so impressed with Ben Stokes' heroics in the third Ashes Test at Headingley that he wants the all-rounder to play centre-half for the Magpies this season.

The 58-year-old Bruce is a huge cricket fan and was even seen borrowing an iPad to watch the Ashes minutes before Newcastle's Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, 25 August. His side pulled off an upset with a 0-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, scoring the only goal of the game in the 27th minute.

Bruce said that both games had him at the edge of his seat that day, and lavished praise on Stokes' remarkable effort. "I don’t know what [made me] more nervous – the last 10 minutes of the cricket or this game,” he said. "But certainly Ben Stokes can play centre-half for us next week, that’s for sure. How wonderful it was to watch, I have to say.

Steve Bruce borrowing someones Ipad to watch the cricket before kick-off 😂 pic.twitter.com/rexTegPJV2 — Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 25, 2019

"[The cricket] was just on. They [his players] had gone for a warm-up and there's nothing you can do then. I usually sit and read the programme. But how could I not watch? The kit-man was running around ... saying 'We need 27, we've got to put it on.' It was wonderful entertainment, worth watching. It was better than reading the programme that's for sure."

Stokes' 135* helped England pull off a memorable one-wicket win at Headingley and keep the series alive. The fourth Test begins on 4 September in Manchester.