‘My head went through the roof!’
With England 2-0 down in this summer’s Ashes, they’ll need a miracle to win the series from here.
So, there’s no better place to start the improbable fightback than Headingley, a ground where four years ago the brilliance of Ben Stokes produced one of the greatest Ashes Tests ever played.
Indeed, the comparisons with what happened on an amazing final day at Lord’s last Sunday, with Stokes again the hero, but this time on the losing side, has only amplified memories of 2019.
The one-wicket win came courtesy of an innings of the ages from Stokes, whose unbeaten 135 came just weeks after his heroics in the World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s.
Here, the key players recall how the drama unfolded…
The hook
After winning the toss, England, 1-0 down in the series, felt they were ahead after bowling out Australia for 179 on a rain-affected first day. But starting their innings on the second morning, the Ashes looked all but gone when they were routed for just 67 – their lowest total against Australia for 71 years.
i’s back page headline simply read: “Day the Ashes were lost”. Australia were restricted to 246 in their second innings thanks to an inspired, marathon spell of bowling from Stokes. But England’s target of 359 to win still looked out of reach.
Stuart Broad: “The emotions throughout the whole Test were just barmy, weren’t they? We bowled Australia out cheap, turned up the next day with 10 wickets left and we’re thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be beautiful, you know, get the flip flops on, get a cup of tea and watch the guys bat in the sunshine.’
“But we were bowled out pretty much by lunch. It looked at that stage like it was going to be very difficult to force a win. And then Stokesy bowled that amazing spell. If the Aussies were going to get 450 we obviously don’t win that game. But it gave us a target that was attainable.”
Joe Root, England’s captain at the time: “An Ashes series on the line. You need people to stand up in the big moments. Ben just kept going and going and going – I couldn’t get the ball out of his hand. He really was determined to wrestle that game back in our favour.”
The impossible job
By the end of day three, England, batting again, closed on 156 for 3, with Root joined at the crease by Stokes, who had battled through to score two from 50 balls.
Jack Leach: “When Ben came in at the close of play [on day three], he said to us: ‘I am not leaving that field until we have won that game.’ I thought: ‘That is a bold statement.’ I think he was very aware of some of the headlines when we got bowled out cheaply in the first innings — that was his motivation.”
Stokes: “We weren’t under pressure of time in that game because we still had another full day. I just wanted to finish the day not out and make sure I could start again properly with Joe. The only number I was focussed on was the amount of runs we needed to win.”
The set up
By the start of day four that number was 203. But after losing Root early, even a partnership of 86 with Jonny Bairstow looked forlorn after a collapse of 5 for 41 left England nine down and still 73 runs shy of victory, with Leach the last man standing alongside Stokes.
James Anderson: “If we can start off well then we’ve got half a chance. But Ben needs a batter to stay with him. When the wickets start falling you’re thinking ‘looking unlikely’. You think it was a good effort but it’s not going to happen this time.”
Stokes: “We started losing those wickets and when Leachy came out to bat everything had to change pretty quickly. There was only really one way we could do this – for me to do the bulk of the scoring and face the bulk of the deliveries and Leachy to hang about for as long as he possibly could. I had to go from the way I was playing in gear two to go straight up to gear six.”
Leach: “Stokesy said: ‘Just try to get through to the end of this over,’ which gave me a short-term goal. At the end of that over, he said to me: ‘Right, I’m going to face four or five balls each over and you’re going to face one or two’. It was a very clear plan. I was ready to bat like a batter, hopefully get a partnership going. But he understood that was going to be too much, there would be too many opportunities for that attack to get me out. He knew one or two balls an over was going to be enough for me. I just felt so focused and determined to do my little bit.”
The sledging
As well as the negative headlines following England’s first-innings, Stokes had been motivated by Australia’s sledging.
“Well done, Stokesy. Well done mate,” came the taunting after he had run out Jos Buttler, England’s sixth wicket to fall on the final day. And the Australian who had riled up Stokes the most was David Warner.
“The one thing that is going to drive me to win this game, to be there not out at the end is shaking David Warner’s hand before I leave the field,” Stokes had told Root at the end of day three.
Justin Langer, then Australia coach: “Well, it’s funny because when Leach came into bat I remember our coaches and everyone in the viewing area were all, ‘Yeah,’ it was almost party time and I said, ‘boys, this is not over until Stokes is out’.”
Peter Siddle: “We’re not far away from this match being done and dusted. We didn’t have to do much to win it – we only had to get one wicket. How hard can that be? Because of the way he was playing and how aggressive he had to be it was always like ‘aww, he’s just going to get out here, he can’t keep going’.”
Stokes: “I had this thing where I just look up to the scoreboard and it makes everything a lot simpler, a lot easier, just watching those runs come down.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain: “He plays that game a thousand times, maybe even a million times, and wins it once. I was on commentary with Ricky Ponting and when we came on Ricky was like: ‘That’s it, we’ve won the Ashes.’ And slowly you could see the pressure build, slowly you could see the crowd getting involved and Australia losing it.”
The drop and drop-kicking the bin
With England needing just two to win, Australia are handed another easy run-out opportunity – but spinner Nathan Lyon, standing over the stumps, fumbles the chance and Leach escapes.
“How had he fluffed his chance?” Stokes said in his book, On Fire. “One word — pressure. Everyone else on that Australian team was screaming at him and it induced a sense of panic.” The moment was immortalised by the fly-on-the-wall Amazon documentary The Test capturing Langer kicking over a bin in the dressing room.
Langer: “The funny thing about it was before it came out the director said ‘Look, is there anything you want to take out?’ I said: ‘Yes, the bit where I kick the rubbish bin.’ He goes: ‘What do you mean? We can’t take that out.” I said: ‘People will think I’m crazy, they’ll think I’m a psycho kicking the bin.’ But he said: ‘Did you see what you did next? You picked up all the rubbish.’
“Later that night I was Face-timing back to Australia in my room and my wife said: ‘What are you doing?’ I said: ‘What do you mean?’ She goes, ‘What are you drinking?’ I said: ‘I’m drinking Scotch.’ She says” ‘Darling, you don’t drink.’ I said: ‘I do tonight, darling.’ Oh mate, that was the worst day of my entire career, not just my coaching career.”
The glorious finale
When Leach managed his only run to equal the scores, it ensured a tied Test at worst for the hosts. Stokes, though, wasn’t done, flaying the next ball from Pat Cummins for four to seal an epic win that levelled the series at 1-1.
Stokes: “When Leachy hit the single that was like, right, the Ashes are still good here. I hadn’t given much away emotionally throughout that whole hour. But then when we finally hit the runs, everything came out.”
Broad: “I was sat between Rooty and Jos Buttler on those stools in the Headingley viewing area. I’m six foot six and I think the ceiling height is six foot four. But that winning moment when Stokesy hit the ball, Jos jumped off his chair. I jumped off mine. My head went through the roof and the hole is still there. My head went through the roof and Jos’s stool went through my shin. So, I had a cut shin bleeding and my head had gone through the roof three seconds after Stokesy had hit the ball to the boundary. There was a lot of emotion going on. But obviously with adrenaline, I didn’t feel that much pain at all.”
Tim Paine, Australia’s captain at the time: “There was a while where I couldn’t watch it. It was probably only last year. I’ve watched it a number of times since and we bowled really well. Our quicks were outstanding for the whole game. Nathan Lyon, in that last stage – it’s spinning, bouncing, drifting, he bowled beautifully and Stokesy just found an answer for everything.”
Anderson: “One of England’s best [wins]. It was an absolute miracle.”
