Stoke are playing - the epitome of Englishness? (3,5)

I believe the answer is:

oak trees

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'the epitome of englishness?' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'stoke are playing' is the wordplay.
'playing' indicates an anagram.
'stoke'+'are'='stokeare'
'stokeare' is an anagram of 'OAK TREES'.

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