Ashes well and truly alive thanks to heroic Stokes and his blokes

The fourth Test at Headingley was akin to an episode of Casualty for England.

Vice-captain Ollie Pope missing the game, and indeed the rest of the series, with a dislocated shoulder. Skipper Ben Stokes now battling a glute problem in addition to his chronic knee issue. Seamer Ollie Robinson hit by a back spasm. Bodies broken, battered and bruised.

At 142-7 in their first innings and 121 runs in arrears, England’s prognosis also looked grim. Their Ashes hopes were not dead – much like the ball Jonny Bairstow was stumped off at Lord’s – but they were slipping away. The antidote was Stokes, as it so often is.

Scorecard: England vs Australia, third Test, HeadingleyEngland vs Australia – day four in Leeds, as it happened

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Captain Ben Stokes revived England’s first innings with a 108-ball 80 to ensure the hosts trailed by just 26 runs

What looked like being a first-innings deficit of plenty ended up being one a little over 20 as Stokes braved that gammy glute to make 80 from 108 balls and power his side to 237 all out.

Spinner Todd Murphy was smoked for sixes, seamers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc flogged for fours.

“The Ashes well and truly alive because of one cricketer – and that cricketer is Benjamin Stokes,” bellowed Nasser Hussain at Headingley four years ago after the left-hander cut Cummins away for four to win that Ashes Test for England.

It was a similar story this time around. Stokes might not have struck the winning runs – that privilege belonged to Chris Woakes – but his intervention was absolutely crucial.

Stokes had help in Leeds in 2019. Jofra Archer took a first-innings six-for; Joe Root and Joe Denly hit fifties in the run chase, Bairstow an underappreciated 36, Jack Leach the greatest one not out of all time. He had fine support acts in Yorkshire this year, too.

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Mark Wood smashed three sixes and a four in a dazzling eight-ball cameo on day two of the third Test at Headingley

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Watch Mark Wood’s five first-innings wickets as he bowled devastatingly quick on his Test comeback

On day four, it was Harry Brook, Woakes and Mark Wood. Brook top-scored with 75 in the successful chase of 251, keeping his head after being accused of losing it at Lord’s when he flapped against the short ball. Wood and Woakes then knocked off the final 21 runs.

Wood’s 16 off eight balls, which included blasting Cummins for six, was the second time in the game he had blazed boundaries, with the likeable seamer cracking 24 from only eight deliveries in England’s first innings before skipper Stokes continued the charge.

Wood also bowled at the speed of light, nearly reaching 97mph, as he shredded Australia’s lower middle order and tail in the first innings, orchestrating a collapse of 6-23.

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Watch the moment England beat Australia by three wickets in the third Ashes Test at Headingley to keep the series alive

Woakes, playing his first Test since March 2022, bagged six wickets in the match with each of them for a member of Australia’s top seven. Add that to his batting and it was Woakes’ Ashes at last…

Stuart Broad dismissed David Warner for the 16th and 17th times in Ashes cricket and then removed Travis Head late on the third evening just as the left-hander threatened to take Australia to a score that might be beyond England.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith also gave Stokes and his side a helping hand, playing dozy shots against Moeen Ali’s off-spin in Australia’s second innings amid the tourists tumbling from 68-1 to 90-4. It looks like the Ashes pressure can get to even the very best.

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Watch the moment Steve Smith was dismissed and instantly teased by Jonny Bairstow as he walked off in Leeds

Now the pressure is very much on Australia. Only one side in history has lost the Ashes from 2-0 up – England in 1936/37 – but the Baggy Greens will fear being the second. England firmly believe they can become the second team to win from 2-0 down. They have momentum and menace ahead of the fourth Test in Manchester.

In Wood they have a paceman who terrifies. In Broad a seamer who vaporises Warner and electrifies the crowd. Their captain galvanises his troops time and time again. To him, there is no such thing as a lost cause and because of him the Ashes are not lost.

When a bowler is really quick it doesn’t matter what sort of batter you are. It hurries you, you make mistakes. That pace constantly with swing and accuracy of length was just top notch. England needed a spark and his pace was one of the major reasons they were on the winning side.

Momentum can be snuffed out pretty quickly. We saw that when going from Leeds to Manchester four years ago with Australia rallying from their gut-wrenching, Stokes-inspired defeat in the third Test by winning the fourth to retain the Ashes.

A repeat is eminently possible.

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The best of the action from day four of the third Ashes Test as England edged Australia by three wickets

Australia are a superb team and you imagine that at some point Labuschagne will turn from the skittish batter he has been in this series to the world-class batter he has been for the last four years.

But because of Stokes, Woakes and a few other fine blokes, the Ashes are well and truly alive. One win for England, two more to go…

Watch day one of the fourth Ashes Test live on Sky Sports Cricket on Wednesday July 19. Build-up from 10am, first ball at 11am. You can stream the men’s and women’s Ashes series on NOW.

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