Ben Stokes revealed that Joe Root left him a message telling the stand-in England captain to "do it your way" in the first Test against West Indies at the Rose Bowl.
Stokes will lead his country for the first time when the three-match series starts in Southampton on Wednesday, with Root absent as his wife is due to give birth to their second child.
The all-rounder will be open to advice from his team-mates and welcomed input from Root.
"The best message that I've received was when I got my photos done yesterday with the blazer," Stokes said on Tuesday. "Rooty just left a message on the hanger which said: 'do it your way.'
"When I first got asked I said I'd be open to opinions. Just because Joe's not here, that doesn't mean I'm not going to use him.
"Joe's always been very open and willing [to take] to advice from players, so I think I'd be stupid to go away from that.
"We've got so much experience in this team that it would be silly not to lean on that if I feel like I need some advice."
Stokes added: "With Joe and his personal situation it's been a case of letting him deal with that
"I haven't been on him too much but I'm sure once the Test match starts, I know he'll be at home watching and I know that his phone will always be available for me to get in contact with him if I need to."
Get in the mood for our series against @windiescricket starting tomorrow by watching back @jimmy9's best Test bowling figures of 7/42! pic.twitter.com/gnqwHstZ8e
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 7, 2020
The tourists were 2-1 winners when the two nations did battle in the Caribbean last year, but both have a new head coach and Stokes believes England are a different proposition now.
"I think there's a lot more clarity with everybody," he said. "We have an identity as a Test team.
"Whereas in times gone past, a few lads might have felt under pressure with guys knocking the door down in a negative way, now we look at that in a positive way where there's competition for places in the team.
"If you're not performing well as a player, there's someone right behind you ready to come in. That's a great place to be in, especially as an international side.
"We have an identity now as a Test team. For us going forward, it's about building on that identity.
"We have a goal of becoming the best team in the world so we're building towards that."
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