Harry Brook helps England to keep the Ashes series alive

No miracles were necessary at Headingley on Sunday as England got home in the third Ashes Test.

Four years ago, England required the equivalent of a supernatural intervention from superman Stokes to win the corresponding fixture by one wicket.

This time, matters were kept within mortal reach as England kept the series alive with a three-wicket win that left them 2-1 down with two Tests to play.

If the circumstances were not quite as compelling as they were four years ago, when Stokes and Jack Leach shared a last-wicket stand of 76 as England somehow chased 359, the action was no less tense with the series on the line.

When Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were dismissed in quick succession shortly after lunch by Mitchell Starc, the former strangled down the leg-side, the latter dragging-on a loose drive, England were 171-6, still 80 short of victory.

But Harry Brook, the local lad restored to his usual position of No 5, marshalled the chase with 75, his ninth score of 50 or more in his 10-Test career.

In the process, Brook became the fastest to 1,000 Test runs in terms of balls faced (1,058), a 24-year-old with the world at his feet, as well as the record books.

Brook entered the arena on a muggy fourth morning with England 93-3 in pursuit of 251.

They had knocked off 27 of those runs in five overs the previous night to inspire great confidence that this time they could come out on the right side of a close encounter, having gone down by just two wickets at Edgbaston and by 43 runs at Lord’s.

This being England, however, and this being Headingley, in particular, there had to be twists and turns, thrills and spills, and the first arrived off the first delivery of the day’s fifth over.

Ben Duckett tried to turn it square on the leg-side from deep in his crease and was lbw to Starc, a decision upheld when Duckett injudiciously reviewed.

After Brook’s first innings failure, Moeen Ali was promoted to No 3 at his own behest, an unexpected move, but that tactic/experiment did not work either, the all-rounder bowled through the gate by Starc off an inside-edge.

Having played handsomely, by and large, for 44 with five fours, Zak Crawley fell one ball after caressing the last of those boundaries, a silky cover-drive off Mitchell Marsh, when he threw the kitchen sink at a delivery outside his off stump and was caught behind, disappointment writ large across his face and that of the crowd.

Enter Brook.

The Yorkshireman dispatched Scott Boland for successive fours to get into his stride, immediately bringing a dose of class to proceedings and a dollop of composure.

In partnership with Joe Root, his White Rose team-mate, Brook took England to just over halfway towards their target before Root fell in innocuous manner, strangled down the leg-side off Pat Cummins, who did not carry quite the same threat as he had in the first innings, when he took six wickets.

At lunch, the total had risen to 153-4, 40 of them to Brook, seven to Stokes, bringing the requirement down to less than 100. In the second over after the break, however, disaster struck, Stokes – the hero of Headingley 2019 – also caught down the leg-side off a cock-a-hoop Starc.

Bairstow got off the mark with an inside edge that flew fractionally past the stumps off Boland, a stroke of fortune that proved short-lived.

For when Bairstow then fell, the mood of the crowd seemed to tangibly deflate; for the first time, perhaps, England supporters began to fear the worst.

As long as Brook was there, however, England had control, or at least conveyed a convincing sense of having it, even if no one was inclined to count their chickens.

Brook went to his half-century from 67 balls and visibly enjoyed himself in the afternoon sunshine, striking some pleasing offside boundaries and repelling everything that an increasingly desperate Australia could throw at him, which was not as penetrative as they would have liked it to be.

Brook deserved a century but the target was not quite large enough, or at least still to be there when the winning runs were hit.

However, with 21 still wanted, he miscued Starc to cover, where Cummins won the race to take the catch ahead of the bowler, a collision between them only narrowly avoided.

It gave Starc his fifth wicket and ended a stand of 59 between Brook and Chris Woakes that effectively settled events, Woakes riding his luck on occasions but displaying tremendous skill and fighting spirit.

Mark Wood attacked successfully as he had done in the first innings, when he creamed 24 off eight balls, hooking Cummins for six and then driving Starc to the cover boundary.

With four runs still required, Wood was dropped off a top-edged hook by wicketkeeper Alex Carey running back off Starc, a desperately difficult opportunity, before Woakes sealed it by square-driving the same bowler to the foot of the West Stand to spark jubilant scenes.