By Malcolm Conn
Fast bowling hero Mark Wood became England’s batting hero as they Bazballed their way to a heart-stopping victory in the third Test at Headingley, keeping the Ashes alive and robbing Australia of a chance to claim their first series victory in England for 22 years.
Set 251 for victory, England won by three wickets midway through the fourth day, leaving the series at 2-1 with two Tests to play.
Mark Wood and Chris Woakes leave the field after guiding England to victory.Credit: Getty Images
Still needing 21 for victory when he came to the crease, Wood smote a six over fine leg and a four through the covers on the way to an unbeaten 16 from just eight balls. Wood was the difference between the teams and was named was player of the match for his first innings 5-34 and two handy batting cameos after missing the first two Tests recovering from injury.
The experienced Chris Woakes stayed steady to the end, smashing a boundary past point off Mitchell Starc to finish unbeaten on 32 and seal a triumphant return to Test cricket after more than a year out of the team. It followed a strong bowling performance (3-73 and 3-68) from the all-rounder.
Australian captain Pat Cummins said his team failed to capitalise at a few key moments in a wildly fluctuating game.
Wood’s extreme pace caused Australia to lose 6-23 in the first innings after Mitch Marsh and Travis Head salvaged the innings with a 155-run partnership; a collapse Cummins said was crucial to letting England back into the game.
Australia also had England 7-142 in their first innings before opposing captain Ben Stokes (80) pushed the score to 237, while the Australian batting line-up failed to make the most of its position of strength in the second innings.
“We’ve had a wonderful run up until now with the first three matches of this tour,” said Cummins, alluding also to last month’s World Test Championship final against India at the Oval.
“It’s a shame. I think it’s one of those games you can look at and everyone kind of feels like you could have done something a little bit different that might have contributed to a different result. But we’ve all played enough cricket, so we’ll brush this one off and make sure we get ready for Manchester [the fourth Ashes Test starting July 19].”
It was one of England’s Bazball generation, Harry Brook, 24, who set up the tense finish.
Playing just his 10th Test, Brook scored 75 before skying a short ball from Starc towards mid-off.
There was a collision of fast-bowling giants as Starc and Cummins ran in opposite directions to take the catch. There could have been a gruesome outcome, but Cummins held firm to take the catch and slapped Starc on the back with glee.
Australia lost the match because of their batting. Twin failures by David Warner – again against Stuart Broad – and soft second innings dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith prevented Australia from building a match-winning lead.
The most pivotal moment on Sunday appeared to come when Stokes was caught down the leg side off Starc shortly after lunch. As long as Stokes was there England looked in control.
It was impossible to believe anything else given his mighty deeds against Australia in England. There was the astonishing, unbeaten 135 Stokes scored which snatched England a remarkable victory at Headingley during the previous Ashes tour four years ago, the blazing 155 at Lord’s a week earlier which almost did the game thing, and the 80 he scored in the first innings of this Test a few days ago which kept England in the match.
Every time England appeared as though they were gaining control, they lost a wicket. First it was Ben Duckett (23) going too far across to Starc. He was leg before wicket then optimistically reviewed the decision.
Mark Wood bats for England at the death.Credit: Reuters
In typical Bazball fashion, England moved spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali from number eight to the pivotal number three spot.
It could have been construed as attacking or defensive, given the way Moeen bats or the fact that usual number three Ollie Pope is out of the series with injury and Brook had been named at three.
The experiment didn’t last long, with Starc bowling Moeen for five. Zak Crawley (44) gave away another impressive start, caught behind off a wild drive from Mitch Marsh, Joe Root (21) fell to Cummins for the third consecutive time, this time gloving a hook, and then Stokes went, opening the game up for Australia before England closed it again.
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