ASHES SERIES 2019
| 01-05 August | 1 Australia 284 & 487-7dec beat England 374 & 146 by 251 runs | Edgbaston |
| 14-18 August | 2 Australia 250 & 154-6 drew with England 258 & 258-5dec | Lord's |
| 22-26 August | 3 England 67 & 362-9 beat Australia 179 & 246 by one wicket | Headingley |
| 04-08 September | FOURTH TEST | Old Trafford |
| 12-16 September | FIFTH TEST | The Oval |
BEN STOKES hit an unbeaten 135 as England completed their highest successful fourth innings run chase in history in incredible fashion at Headingley to keep their Ashes hopes alive.
England - who had been bowled out for just 67 inside 28 overs on Friday - somehow survived some of the most intense cricket in Ashes history to finish on 362-9 and level the series at 1-1 with two matches still to play.
For sure, Australia - despite this significant setback - remain favourites for the urn, if only because a win in either of the remaining matches will be enough for them, as the holders, to retain the Ashes.
Nevertheless, this Test in Leeds - and even the presence of Jofra Archer in the draw just over a week ago at Lord's - has given the Aussies plenty to think about heading into the last two chapters of this five-match series.
At the start of the series, the teams had gone to Edgbaston - or Fortress Edgbaston as it became billed in the ground's pre-match publicity.
Australia had failed to win any of their previous visits to the Birmingham venue in all forms of cricket, a run which began back in 2001.
Meanwhile, the visitors' most recent visit was an eight-wicket semi final thrashing in the World Cup only a few weeks previously.
It looked little better for the Aussies this time as they fell to 122-8 - but former skipper Steve Smith scored a scintillating 144 to help his team to record a modest opening offering of 284.
England replied with a far more solid 374, mainly built on the back of a magnificent 133 from opener Rory Burns.
But, critically, the hosts had lost their main bowler James Anderson after four overs of the first day - and, limited to four main bowlers, Smith dined out on some buffet bowling to hit another fine century.
Moeen Ali - 2-130 off 29 overs - was particularly expensive on a generous fourth-day pitch as Australia were able to declare on 487-7, the tireless Stokes having picked up three of the wickets.
England - therefore - were asked to bat out the whole of the final day to secure a draw.
However, it was something which they never looked like doing as the middle order failed and plunged the team to a desperate 97-7.
Chris Woakes smacked a few fours on his home ground for a creditable 37 - but, eventually, England were all out for 144 and lost by the not insignificant margin of 251 runs. Australia had breached Fortress Edgbaston.
There was therefore work to be done ahead of the second Test at Lord's. Ultimately, it turned to be a rainy draw which came to life just too late for England.
Day one was a complete washout and there were less than 25 overs on day three.
Nevertheless, the match moved along at quite apace as England were bowled out for 258 - and, even with a 92 from Smith, the Aussies fell eight runs short of that.
It left the Test as basically a one-innings match - and things did not look too clever when England were 71-4 on the fourth evening.
But, thankfully, Stokes had other ideas and his mature 115, which increased in intensity on the fifth day, set up an unlikely victory opportunity.
After all, Australia - by this time - were deprived of Smith who was concussed after being hit on the helmet in the first innings by a bouncer by Archer.
The Barbados-born fast bowler was seriously fast and, even in this draw, seemed to make quite an impression on the visiting batsmen.
Archer took 3-32 as Australia, on the fall of captain Tim Paine's wicket, found themselves at 149-6 with no chance of victory.
By then, though, the match was in its last hour and a solid 42 from Travis Head eased any worries on the away balcony. Australia had secured the draw so were still leading 1-0 with now just three to play.
The third Test, therefore, was always going to be pivotal.
A win for England would bring the hosts level at 1-1 - but, frighteningly, victory for Australia would confirm their retention of the Ashes at the earliest possibility - and would mark their first successful Test campaign in England since 2001.
Anderson was still out for England with a rare injury to his calf while Smith was absent from the Aussie line-up following his knock on the head by Archer's bouncer in the second Test at Lord's.
The absence of Smith could only surely be good news for Joe Root - and, winning the toss under cloudy skies, the Yorkshire man inserted Australia at his home ground.
With the Ashes on the line, it looked like it had all gone wrong as Stokes and Woakes bowled loosely to allow Paine's men to reach 136-2 after tea on a rain-interrupted first day.
But England - and Archer in particular - fought back impressively as the 24-year-old took 6-45 to restrict the Aussies to a first innings total of 179 at the close of the first day.
England were well in the game - but, within a few hours of the resumption on Friday, they appeared to have thrown it all away.
Only Joe Denly (12) reached double figures as Root's men played a whole series of unnecessary shots on the way to 67 all out, a matter of 122 runs behind.
If anything, the Australian second innings was still yet more painful as Smith stand-in Marnus Labuschagne took advantage of some sloppy fielding to add 80 to his other scores of 59 and 74 in the series.
The South African-born number four, who grew up in Queensland, looked like emulating Smith at his immovable best until he foolishly attempted a second run on a misfield by Joe Denly and was run out.
Australia did not last much longer - but, with 246 runs on the board to add to their first innings lead, it seemed as if their two incredibly modest scores were going to be comfortably enough for them to retain the urn.
Hardly anyone excepted England to make it to a record 359 following their horrendous innings of 67 - and, indeed, another low score looked likely when both openers Burns and then Jason Roy fell again for single-figure scores.
At this point, most England fans were simply looking for some sort of respectability on the scorecard - and Root, Denly and Stokes at least achieved that by pushing the hosts to 156-3 at the close of play.
England resumed on the fourth day still needing 203 runs to win - but Root fell before lunch after the ball looped to slip off the bowling of spinner Nathan Lyon.
Stokes and Jonny Bairstow added 85 before latter ridiculously chased a wide one and his replacement Jos Buttler was run out by the former.
Woakes followed all too quickly, chipping Josh Hazelwood for a solitary run - and, at 261-7, the Ashes looked done.
Archer took a slightly different approach by attacking the Aussie bowlers - but this admittedly understandable and entertaining high-risk strategy was never going to be too successful.
In the next over following Archer's departure, Broad was trapped lbw by James Pattinson for a duck - and England seemed stranded on 286-9, still 73 runs short.
Jack Leach came out to bat as last man - and, despite a 92 as nightwatchman against Ireland a few weeks ago, the spinner knew the part he had to play.
Somerset bowler Leach channelled the belief and skill of Stokes to finish on one off 17 balls while his partner did his best to man the strike.
Stokes, magnificently, had himself curbed his attacking instincts to score three off 73. Geoffrey Boycott, and surely even Chris Tavare, would have been proud.
But, at the fall of the ninth wicket, something changed in Stokes - he realised he could no longer be anywhere near as defensive.
Leach blocked out the rest of the over from Pattinson then, in the next over Stokes thumped Lyon for six over long-off.
Surely it was a matter of time, so it felt - but Stokes repeated his trick against Lyon off the first ball of the next over - before a reverse sweep brought another six off the fifth ball.
A few overs later, it became properly ridiculous as Stokes took the best Australian bowler Hazlewood to the cleaners by hitting 19 off the over.
Another nine runs off Pat Cummins brought the required total down to eight, or seven for a tie.
In the third ball of the 125th over of the innings, Stokes despatched Lyon for yet another six to bring the requirement down to two runs, his shot down the ground only just making it over the despairing reach of a fielder.
Incredibly, it was not the closest chance by far of those six balls. On the fifth ball of the over, Leach charged down the pitch from the non-strikers before realising there was no run.
Leach was well short of his ground as Lyon attempted to gather the ball - but the pressure clearly got to the Aussie as he fumbled and failed to hit the wickets.
At this stage, every ball really was an event as the cliché goes - and, off the last ball of this crazy over, Lyon thought he had trapped Stokes lbw.
Umpire Joel Wilson - in a team with Chris Gaffaney - have not had a particularly good series so far, many of their decisions having been overturned.
And, apparently, Wilson would have had another decision reversed if the Aussies had retained any reviews.
To their immense frustration, though, the tourists had earlier burned their last review on a speculative call against Leach. Frankly, they only have themselves to blame.
Cummins stepped up to the mark for the next over which became the last over of the match - and, crucially it seemed, he was bowling at Leach.
By now, though, Leach was probably as confident as he could be still - still on 0 but off 14 balls.
The first ball was a bouncer which easily cleared the batman's head - but the second was far more testing and Leach had to wear it well.
From the third ball of the over, Leach nervously prodded the ball past short leg and scampered a single.
Amazingly, that put the scores level - and it was confirmed that the Ashes were not being lost in Leeds at least.
It could still have been a tie, of course - England are familiar enough with those this summer - but Stokes was in no mood to leave England with a deficit heading into the last two Test.
A glorious cover drive for four brought victory and brought yet more history for Stokes.
Seemingly not content with getting England over the line in easily the tightest World Cup Final ever, he has now helped the national team surpass their highest previous successful chase of 332, set against the Aussies in 1928.
Magnificently, both achievements have been incredibly hard-fought - and Stokes himself has been critical to the successful outcome.
Looking at things a little more soberly, England still have big problems with their batting line-up and there is definitely a feeling that bowling from Archer and Broad - and batting from Stokes - has only just about kept the home side in this series.
It is no bad thing to have good players in superb form though - and, following this result, it can only be England who take the momentum into the next Test at Old Trafford in Manchester on 4 September.
In the third ball of the 125th over of the innings, Stokes despatched Lyon for yet another six to bring the requirement down to two runs, his shot down the ground only just making it over the despairing reach of a fielder.
Incredibly, it was not the closest chance by far of those six balls. On the fifth ball of the over, Leach charged down the pitch from the non-strikers before realising there was no run.
Leach was well short of his ground as Lyon attempted to gather the ball - but the pressure clearly got to the Aussie as he fumbled and failed to hit the wickets.
At this stage, every ball really was an event as the cliché goes - and, off the last ball of this crazy over, Lyon thought he had trapped Stokes lbw.
Umpire Joel Wilson - in a team with Chris Gaffaney - have not had a particularly good series so far, many of their decisions having been overturned.
And, apparently, Wilson would have had another decision reversed if the Aussies had retained any reviews.
To their immense frustration, though, the tourists had earlier burned their last review on a speculative call against Leach. Frankly, they only have themselves to blame.
Cummins stepped up to the mark for the next over which became the last over of the match - and, crucially it seemed, he was bowling at Leach.
By now, though, Leach was probably as confident as he could be still - still on 0 but off 14 balls.
The first ball was a bouncer which easily cleared the batman's head - but the second was far more testing and Leach had to wear it well.
From the third ball of the over, Leach nervously prodded the ball past short leg and scampered a single.
Amazingly, that put the scores level - and it was confirmed that the Ashes were not being lost in Leeds at least.
It could still have been a tie, of course - England are familiar enough with those this summer - but Stokes was in no mood to leave England with a deficit heading into the last two Test.
A glorious cover drive for four brought victory and brought yet more history for Stokes.
Seemingly not content with getting England over the line in easily the tightest World Cup Final ever, he has now helped the national team surpass their highest previous successful chase of 332, set against the Aussies in 1928.
Magnificently, both achievements have been incredibly hard-fought - and Stokes himself has been critical to the successful outcome.
Looking at things a little more soberly, England still have big problems with their batting line-up and there is definitely a feeling that bowling from Archer and Broad - and batting from Stokes - has only just about kept the home side in this series.
It is no bad thing to have good players in superb form though - and, following this result, it can only be England who take the momentum into the next Test at Old Trafford in Manchester on 4 September.
CENTURIES
144 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
142 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
135* Ben Stokes (England), third Test
133 Rory Burns (England), first Test
115* Ben Stokes (England), second Test
110 Matthew Wade (Australia), first Test
FIVE-FORS
6-45 Jofra Archer (England), third Test
6-49 Nathan Lyon (Australia), first Test
5-30 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test
5-86 Stuart Broad (England), first Test
MOST RUNS
378 Steve Smith (Australia) @ 126.00
327 Ben Stokes (England) @ 81.75
242 Rory Burns (England) @ 40.33
213 Marnus Labaschagne (Australia) @ 71.00
144 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
142 Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
135* Ben Stokes (England), third Test
133 Rory Burns (England), first Test
115* Ben Stokes (England), second Test
110 Matthew Wade (Australia), first Test
FIVE-FORS
6-45 Jofra Archer (England), third Test
6-49 Nathan Lyon (Australia), first Test
5-30 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test
5-86 Stuart Broad (England), first Test
MOST RUNS
378 Steve Smith (Australia) @ 126.00
327 Ben Stokes (England) @ 81.75
242 Rory Burns (England) @ 40.33
213 Marnus Labaschagne (Australia) @ 71.00
176 Joe Root (England) @ 29.33
160 Travis Head (Australia) @ 32.00
151 Matthew Wade (Australia) @ 25.16
147 Joe Denly (England) @ 24.50
MOST WICKETS
17 Pat Cummins (Australia) @ 18.52
14 Stuart Broad (England) @ 25.35
14 Nathan Lyon (Australia) @ 31.92
13 Jofra Archer (England) @ 13.53
12 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) @ 18.00
151 Matthew Wade (Australia) @ 25.16
147 Joe Denly (England) @ 24.50
MOST WICKETS
17 Pat Cummins (Australia) @ 18.52
14 Stuart Broad (England) @ 25.35
14 Nathan Lyon (Australia) @ 31.92
13 Jofra Archer (England) @ 13.53
12 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) @ 18.00
9 Chris Woakes (England) @ 29.00
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