Ben Stokes, the captain of England, revealed that he was too nervous to see the last moments of his team’s exciting three-wicket triumph against Australia in the third Test match, which took place on Sunday at Headingley.
Mitchell Starc, a fast bowler for Australia, had Stokes and Jonny Bairstow removed in rapid succession, putting the home team in a difficult position with a target of 251 to win. At that point, the hosts were suffering at 171-6 in a match that they had to win to keep their Ashes aspirations alive.
But Harry Brook hit a brilliant 75 despite being under duress, and he and Chris Woakes had an important stand of 59 that brought England’s score to 254-7 on the fourth day of the match.
All-rounder Woakes and fast bowler Mark Wood, both of whom were recalled by England for this match, then finished the job to leave Stokes’ side in with a chance of recovering the Ashes despite being down 2-1 with two matches still to play.
In the Ashes Test that took place at Headingley exactly four years ago, England triumphed over Australia by a surprising one-wicket margin thanks to Stokes’ incredible unbeaten score of 135 runs.
On the other hand, the all-rounder mentioned that being in the change rooms during Sunday’s run chase at the Leeds pitch was a really unique experience for him.
Stokes said to the press, “I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous at the end,” and he said this with a straight face.
“We were aware that in order to keep our ambitions of winning the Ashes alive, we needed to win this match.
I didn’t really witness the last 20 races being scored since I spent the last half hour walking around the Headingley dressing room, which is almost two kilometers in circumference.
The phrase “can’t do anything”
The all-rounder, who is now 32 years old, continued by saying, “It’s a completely different place when you can’t do anything, and you can’t influence the game any longer.” You are left to wait and watch, all the while keeping your fingers crossed that everything will work out in your favor.
At Edgbaston and Lord’s, respectively, England was defeated by two wickets and 43 runs, causing many commentators to doubt the effectiveness of their aggressive “Bazball” strategy. England had their opportunities to win the first two Tests, but they ended up losing both of them.
Another loss may have done significant harm to their psyche, but instead England won their 12th win in 16 Tests since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum began working together a year ago.
“Getting over the line in another tight game can mentally help,” said Stokes. “I think if you look at the first two games in terms of how tight they were, getting over the line in another tight game can help.”
“If we didn’t win this one and it’s tight again, you sort of think ‘it’s just not meant to be,'” he continued to say after the previous statement.
“But obviously we are over the moon that we won this one, and it’s just the start of what we know we need to do,” he said. “But obviously we are over the moon that we won this one.”
Stokes commended the efforts of Woakes and Wood, who both took vital wickets in addition to scoring runs, but he also emphasized the 24-year-old Brook’s coolness in a run chase in which Zak Crawley’s 44 was the next highest score. Woakes and Wood each took wickets in addition to making runs.
“The way that Brooky controlled the game with the bat from ball one was amazing,” remarked Stokes.
“He went out there and put the pressure back on them straight away… It was unbelievable for such a young boy to perform so well in such a high-pressure circumstance in the Ashes.