Ashes 2019: Smashing a miracle victory from flaws of defeat

On day three, John Howard was in the stands pondering the fanciful ­notion that England could win.

England's Ben Stokes celebrates victory in the third Ashes Test. Picture: AP

On the third day of the third Ashes Test, John Howard was in the stands pondering the fanciful ­notion that England could pull off a historic victory.

It was suggested it would be the second miracle at Headingley. In 1981, Ian Botham batted England out of a first-innings failure that had them at odds of 500-1 in a nearby betting tent. Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, controversially, put money on the opposition and the allrounder changed the course of the game with an undefeated 149.

“It will be the third miracle at Headingley then,” the former prime minister told The Australian.

Mr Howard, who has been at the previous two Tests with his wife, Janette, suggested the 1948 Headingley Test, in which Don Bradman (173 not out) and Arthur Morris (182) led the Australian team to chase down 404 to win, was the first.

Mr Howard, who recently turned 80, celebrated his ninth birthday during that match and knows all too well how rare such games are.

John Howard. Picture: Getty Images

Ben Stokes’s 135 not out will rank alongside the centuries by Botham and the two Australians, but nothing that came before will match the drama of the final hour of this incredible match. The allrounder made 74 of the last 76 runs England needed to win, shielding No 11 Jack Leach, who scored only one run and faced just 17 balls.

Stokes employed all the outrageous skills of the modern cricketer to complete England’s highest successful run chase in 142 years. He used the ramp shot and the ­reverse sweep to score two of the eight sixes he hit into the crowd.

The allrounder was a national hero after similar feats in the World Cup final at Lord’s six weeks earlier. Former England captain Michael Vaughan said the win “bettered” that feat. Mark Waugh said “no words can do justice to that game and that innings by Stokes”. Geoffrey Boycott said it was the best cricket he had seen for half a century.

English newspapers had ­despaired at the state of the game in their country when the team was bowled out for 67 in the first innings, but were ecstatic with the historic run chase and result two days later. Even the Financial Times found room on its front page for the story.

The Australians were on the wrong side of history in the game and shell-shocked after it. Captain Tim Paine helped the devastated Nathan Lyon to his feet after Stokes smashed the winning runs, telling the bowler who had fumbled a runout that would have won the game that he needed to set an example for the younger players.

The win was tinged with controversy when umpire Joel Wilson gave Stokes not out lbw to Lyon. The official has had a nightmare run with decisions but the Australians know they had wasted their last review on a frivolous call in the previous over.

Paine was magnanimous in ­defeat and refused to blame the umpire.

“I don’t think I’ve got a referral correct the whole series so I can’t sit here and bag the umpires, and again we have got to focus on what we can control and umpiring decisions isn’t one of them,” he said.