How Australia recover from Ben Stokes mauling by the men who suffered at the hand of Ian Botham

Defeat at the hands of a rampaging allrounder at Headingley will be tough to bounce back from. Though an Australian side has been there before. The class of ‘81 share the lessons they learned.

• Star quick refuses to let up on bunny Warner
• Aussies far from set as Headingley still burns deep
• The batsmen most likely to miss fourth Test
• Aussies expecting more aggression from Poms

Where there was darkness there must be light.

Where there was horror at being struck by a cricketing lightning bolt there must now be a confidence that lightning bolts are not supposed to strike twice.

Where there was silence and sobriety there must now be humour and maybe a cold beer.

These are some of the tips from Australia’s Ashes tourists of 1981 at how to get over being sliced and diced by English all-rounders walking with the gods of batting – Ian Botham in 1981 and Ben Stokes in the last Test of the Ashes who both produced Headingley masterpieces.

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Rod Marsh can only admire Ian Botham's handiwork back in 1981.

“Sometimes you just have to accept there are innings they may never be played again,’’ said Kim Hughes, captain of the 1981 Ashes party which led the series 1-0 until Botham turned the tide with epic, free-swinging centuries at Headingley and Old Trafford.

“You are fortunate to see them. Stokes could play another 100 Tests and never play another innings like that.

“Once blokes like that get going it is amazing how fortune favours the brave. That is the gift those guys have. They have the courage to back themselves in. At one stage Australia had seven or eight on the boundary and Stokes hit eight sixes. I know bats are a lot better but even in hindsight …

“Anybody can do it in the nets. Barely anyone can do it in a Test.

“You have to rally behind your troops. Nathan Lyon will have had nightmares but you have to just say well done to them. Let’s get together, have a couple of beers and get the thing back on track.

“It’s still one-all and we hold the Ashes. Your personalities who have a bit of humour are so important. They help blokes relax.’’

Ben Stokes took the Aussies apart at Headingley.

While containing Stokes has suddenly become a major issue for Australia, both Hughes and fellow 1981 tourist Mike Whitney said the worry was that such extraordinary deeds would lift teammates to rare heights, with Jack Leach’s last-wicket defiance the prime example.

“Bob Willis got going in 1981 because Beefy inspired him,’’ Whitney said.

“(Tailenders) Paul Allott and Graham Dilley scored really useful runs with Botham which they never did again. But that is what great all-rounders do. They lift their teammates.

“Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan … they lifted people just like Stokes did with Leach.

“Can you call Stokes a great all-rounder? You have to do it over a long period. You can call him a very, very good all-rounder at the moment.

“That spell he bowled at Headingley where he bowled 14 overs with good pace was Beefy Botham-like and the hundred where he sat and waited and wait then exploded ... unbelievable. Sadly we lost but what a boost in the arse for Test cricket.

Michael Whitney would love for Mitchell Starc to be let loose at Old Trafford.

Left-arm quick Whitney believes the time has come play another man of his ilk – Mitchell Starc.

“It’s time to unleash the left-arm beast,’’ Whitney said.

“Starc is chomping at the bit to get a game. I would play him now. I am not sure who I would rest. People have been saying Pat Cummins needs a rest but that mentality did not exist in my day.

“But if rotation is going to win games then put someone like Starc in who is fresh and can win you a game.’’

Whitney became one of Ashes cricket’s most exotic selections when he was called into the ‘81 Test team from outside the squad. A string of injuries prompted him to be recruited from a county stint with Gloucestershire, aged 22 with just seven first-class games and he performed with distinction.

“I was picked out of obscurity and was like a kid out of a candy store. It was surreal.

Dennis Lillee could find no answer to Ian Botham back in 1981.

“I turned up the night before the fifth Test and they told me you are playing tomorrow and I would be bowling first change after Terry Alderman and DK Lillee. I was in shock but the boys were up for it.

“Beefy scored a hundred at Old Trafford and it was a similar innings to Stokes. He stumbled around until we took the second new ball and then he took off. He hooked Dennis for a couple of sixes right off his nose. He played a cross bat shot over mid-off for six off Terry Alderman.

“I ended up getting him out and I am looked back and am pretty happy about that.’’

Originally published as How Australia recover from Ben Stokes mauling by the men who suffered at the hand of Ian Botham