England Test captain Ben Stokes on Sunday bettered a record held by former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the ongoing Ashes series. Under his leadership, England has now successfully chased down the most 250-plus run targets in Test cricket.
With their win in the Headingley Test, England became the first team to record five successful 250-plus run chases overtaking the record held by India under MS Dhoni. Dhoni had led India to four such run chases in Tests.
Buoyed by the heroics of Harry Brooks, who scored 75 on his home ground, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood added to take England across the line to keep the Ashes alive. The series is now at 2-1 with England looking to make things level in the next match.
Had Australia managed to win, they would have sealed their first away Ashes win since 2001. They were well on their way to do so having taken wickets at regular intervals to leave England reeling at 171 for 6 wickets at one point. Mitchell Starc spearheaded the attack taking two wickets either side of lunch including the wickets of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.
Brook and Woakes added 59 runs for the seventh wicket, which was England’s highest partnership of the match, before Starc sent Brook packing. However, Wood joined Woakes to steer the match in favour of the Englishmen.
At the start of day four, England needed another 224 runs for the win, but lost a wicket in the fifth over of the morning. Moeen Ali’s unexpected arrival at the pitch was short lived, with Starc ripping his leg stump with a 144 kmph delivery.
Joe Root then scored a few boundaries off Zak Crawley, however, he never really settled. A change in ball in the 19th over worked wonders for Australia with the crucial wicket coming in the 20th.
