Ben Stokes’ unforgettable innings of 135 * led England to an incredible victory in the third Ashes Test at Headingley.
Of 286/9 Stokes and the last man, Jack Leach, who has not gotten out of 17 balls 1, 76 were added to make England as the last wicket to one of the most memorable victories in his 142-year test history. The series are now tied 1-1 with two games.
Australia got off to a good start by bowling four consecutive virgins before Nathan Lyon Joe Root slipped out of a diving David Warner for 77. Stokes, who was two at one point and did not emerge from 66 balls, was replaced by Jonny Bairstow and the two for the fifth wicket with 86 counter-stroke play.
Kusal Perera & Vishwa Fernando: 78* v South Africa
— ICC (@ICC) August 25, 2019
Ben Stokes & Jack Leach: 76* v Australia
The two largest 10th wicket partnerships in winning run chases have taken place in 2019.#Ashes pic.twitter.com/DXq6ynKu9s
After lunch, Australia struck back when Bairstow was trapped in the slip-ups of Josh Hazlewood for 36, Jos Buttler was knocked out by Travis Head for 1 and Chris Woakes (1) drove Hazlewood to Matthew Wade for a brief extra cover.
That left England 261/7, but Stokes was still there and he added 25 for the 8th wicket before Jofra Archer was caught at the deep square leg in front of Lyon for 15. Stuart Broad became two pounds later for a duck to James Pattinson lbw and Australia had a hand on the ashes.
Although Stokes had not given up and Leach was buried at the other end, Stokes expertly built the strike, hit four and six on the ground, hit several doubles hard, and gave Leach one or two balls per overflow survival.
Australia had chances to win, Marcus Harris spared a difficult lead over Stokes in front of the third, before wasting their final rating on a Leach Lbw far out of the stump.
Another Stokes Straight Six left two for the win, before a mistake made Leach Yards out of his kink at the end of the bowler just for Lyon to take the opportunity. One ball later, Stokes tried to sweep and survived a huge Lbw appeal Hawkeye showed he hit the middle and the leg.
Leach dabbed a quick single against Leg Gully to tie the points before Stokes slammed a foursome through Cummins’ cover to win a truly remarkable victory as the crowd erupted.
