England and India feel the agony and ecstasy in equal measure

20-24 June	INDIA 471 & 364 ENGLAND 465 & 373-5	ENGLAND won by five wickets	Headingley
2-6 July	INDIA 587 & 427-6 dec ENGLAND 407 & 271	INDIA won by 336 runs	Edgbaston
10-14 July	ENGLAND 387 & 192 INDIA 387 & 170	ENGLAND won by 22 runs	Lord's
23-27 July	INDIA 358 & 425-4 ENGLAND 669	DRAWN	Old Trafford
31-4 August	INDIA 224 & 396 ENGLAND 247 & 367	INDIA won by six runs	The Oval

INDIA pipped England by six runs to secure a 2-2 draw as an engrossing five-Test series concluded in thrilling fashion at the Oval. 

At 11:56am on the 25th day of cricket in the series out of a possible 25, player of the match Mohammed Siraj breached Gus Atkinson's defences - and the Indian fielders huddled together in joy as they celebrated their closest ever win in Tests. 

In fairness, across the seven weeks as a whole, a draw was a fair result - and both sides will be left to reflect on several spurned opportunities each. 

First, the ghosts of 2022 returned to haunt the tourists as England chased down an unlikely target of 371 to take the opening match at Headingley. 

Back in the early days of Bazball in July 2022, England chased 378 for the loss of only three wickets in a rearranged match against India at Edgbaston as Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*) shared a glorious unbeaten stand of 269. 

This time, the damage was done at the top of the order as Zak Crawley (65) and Ben Duckett (149) set up the pursuit brilliantly before Root (53*) and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith (44*) finished things off. 

In the second Test at Edgbaston, though, the tourists made no mistake as their new captain Shubman Gill enjoyed something of a magnum opus. 

Gill headed into the series with an underwhelming average of 35.05 - but, having already scored 147 in the first innings at Lord's, the 25-year-old propelled his team to a comprehensive victory in Birmingham with 269 and 161. 

As such, Gill became the first player to record scores in excess of 250 and 150 in the same Test - as India made 587 and 427-6 declared to thrash England by the huge margin of 336 runs. 

Yet Stokes's men then responded brilliantly in a nerve-shredding third Test at Lord's where the teams were level on first innings and the sparks really began to fly. 

In a fascinating turn of events, India's innings ended at 6.14pm, shortly before the close of Day Three, leaving England openers Crawley and Duckett with around 10 minutes of batting during which they had very little to gain and their precious wicket to lose. 

And so we entered pantomime season. 

From the fifth ball of the England innings, delivered by Jasprit Bumrah, Crawley was hit on the glove and received treatment for long enough that only a measly single over was possible, much to the annoyance of the Indians. 

“Grow some f**king balls!” screamed skipper Gill to Crawley as the Kent man indulged in his delaying tactics. 

If anything, though, Crawley's time-wasting merely served to fire up the Indian bowlers on the following day as England struggled their way to a score of 192 - and fellow opener Duckett received an aggressive send-off from Siraj for which the seamer was fined 15% of his match fee. 

Notably, that was not Siraj's last contribution to this match as India then similarly struggled on a deteriorating Day Five pitch. 

At 112-8 on the stroke of lunch, the tourists were still 81 short of their target and England looked to have the win in the bag. 

Wily Ravindra Jadeja remained at the crease, however - and the 36-year-old expertly managed the strike with tail-enders Bumrah and then Siraj. 

But the prospect of the second new ball seemed to spook Jadeja into a change of tack with runs taking on a greater emphasis as the victory line moved ever closer.  

To be fair to him, Siraj largely batted well and did his job - until suddenly he didn't. 

Facing Shoaib Bashir, who was bowling his off-spin with a broken finger sustained while batting, Siraj looked to have made another safe block from the fifth ball of the 75th over. 

As the ball hit the pitch though, some wicked back-spin took it past the unsuspecting Siraj and clunked into leg stump, removing one of the bails to bring a decidedly odd end to a fantastic match. 

Elated England thus squeaked the win by 22 runs, regaining the lead in the series at 2-1 with two matches to play - and the hosts set about pressing home their advantage after winning the toss for the fourth time out of four at the start of the Test at Old Trafford. 

However, Manchester decided not to play ball - and a slow flat pitch produced a largely mind-numbing encounter as an aggregate of 1,452 runs were scored for the loss of 14 wickets in only the second draw out of 33 matches in the Bazball era. 

Old Trafford was also the venue for the first draw which arguably cost England their greatest Ashes series comeback of all time as typical Manchester rain intervened to wipe out almost two days of play. 

Notably, all six Lancashire matches at the ground in the County Championship have also ended in draws. 

Simply put, Old Trafford might not be able to do much about the rain - but, for all the tradition at the venue, it can also do so much better. 

There were still some notable moments as Root compiled a 38th century - fourth on the all-time list - and went second on the all-time list of Test run scorers. 

For the record, the Yorkshireman finished the series with 39 tons and 13,543 career Test runs, 2,378 behind legendary Indian record-holder Sachin Tendulkar. 

But perhaps the match will be most remembered for Jadeja rejecting Stokes's handshake on a draw as he approached a fifth Test century on a ridiculously placid surface. 

Now, normally Stokes can be generally considered to have good judgement on a cricket field - and, in this matter, he was only acting in line with the ingrained tradition that a captain offers his hand after deciding victory was no longer possible. 

At the same time, Jadeja and Washington Sundar were well within their rights to bat on, especially the latter given that the pitch pretty much guaranteed him a maiden Test century. 

Indeed, this was an incident rather blown out of all proportion - compared to the rather more questionable behaviour of the India coach Gautam Gambhir as he ended up in an unsavoury row with pitch curator Lee Fortis ahead of the fifth Test at the Oval. 

Then again, it was perhaps no surprise Gambhir wanted a closer look at the first proper green-top of the series - and, under the clouds, it was equally unsurprising that England opted to bowl after winning the toss yet again despite fielding a much-changed bowling attack. 

Over the course of the series, England selected no fewer than nine frontline bowlers with only Chris Woakes appearing in all five matches. 

Even he eventually ended up as a complete wreck after sustaining a suspected dislocated shoulder on the opening day at the Oval. 

So, while not exactly helped by such docile surfaces in a sun-baked summer, the English attack without James Anderson and Stuart Broad is a major cause for concern - especially ahead of an away Ashes series. 

Jofra Archer bowled well when called upon but remains largely wrapped up in cotton wool given his horrendous injury record. 

Meanwhile, the only other genuine 90mph bowler, Mark Wood, did not feature at all as he continues to recover from a crocked knee. 

As such, it was skipper Stokes, an all-rounder, who was often the most threatening England bowler - but, having taken on 35 overs in the fourth Test, he also ruled himself out of playing the finale. 

England missed him badly at the Oval - bowling erratically and fielding worse - though the hosts were understandably damaged by a further injury, this time to Woakes, as they were left effectively with just a three-man seam-only attack. 

Indeed, at 177-2 and 229-4 in their second innings, India had the chance to bat England out of the contest entirely - but, the improving Josh Tongue earned a second Test five-for as the visitors were dismissed for 396. 

The mouth-watering target for England was 374 - historically difficult but in exactly the same ballpark as the chase at Headingley and several others in the Bazball era. 

At lunch on Day Four, the hosts were rebuilding with Root and Harry Brook at 164-3 following another under-par second innings effort of 27 from stand-in captain Ollie Pope. 

Twin centurions Root and Brook extended their partnership to 195 as Siraj had another moment to forget after stepping on the boundary rope while catching Brook at fine leg. 

In keeping with the series though, India roared back as Brook lost control of his bat while holing out shortly before tea and the returning Jacob Bethell was bowled by Prasidh Krishna shortly after. 

However, before a heavy shower and bad light brought a premature close of play, India put themselves right back in with a chance as Root feathered behind with England still 37 runs short. 

Smith, Jamie Overton and Tongue offered only limited resistance on Day Five - and Woakes, with his arm in a sling under his whites, made his way tenderly to the crease to join Atkinson. 

Then, amazingly, India - on top at last - briefly lost their nerve as Atkinson slogged Siraj for six, then Woakes managed to get to the other end off the last ball for a bye to stay off strike. 

From the next over, bowled by Prasidh, Woakes somehow defied absolute agony to run two before another single off the last again kept Atkinson on strike with seven runs needed to win. 

But Siraj, who had an extraordinary series of ups and downs, was too good for his English counterpart - and, as the ball clattered into off-stump, the Indian's rollercoaster campaign finished on a big high with a fifth career five-for in Tests. 

It ensured, of course, that India matched their 2-2 series score from 2021-22 - while the last Ashes series also finished 2-2. 

So, while England certainly make a conscious effort not to play for draws, there is a frustrating irony in the fact that their three biggest home series since 2022 have all finished level.


CENTURIES
  INDIA 12-9 ENGLAND

269	Shubman Gill	India	Second Test, Edgbaston (1)
184*	Jamie Smith	England	Second Test, Edgbaston (2)
161	Shubman Gill	India	Second Test, Edgbaston (3)
158	Harry Brook	England	Second Test, Edgbaston (2)
150	Joe Root	England	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (2)
149	Ben Duckett	England	First Test, Headingley (4)
147	Shubman Gill	India	First Test, Headingley (1)
141	Ben Stokes	England	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (2)
137	KL Rahul	India	First Test, Headingley (3)
134	Rishabh Pant	India	First Test, Headingley (1)
118	Rishabh Pant	India	First Test, Headingley (3)
118	Yashasvi Jaiswal	India	Fifth Test, The Oval (3)
111	Harry Brook	England	Fifth Test, The Oval (4)
107*	Ravindra Jadeja	India	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (3)
106	Ollie Pope	England	First Test, Headingley (2)
105	Joe Root	England	Fifth Test, The Oval (4)
104	Joe Root	England	Third Test, Lord's (1)
103	Shubman Gill	India	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (3)
101*	Washington Sundar	India	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (3)
101	Yashasvi Jaiswal	India	First Test, Headingley (1)
100	KL Rahul	India	Third Test, Lord's (2)

FIVE-FORS
  INDIA 5-3 ENGLAND

6-70	Mohammed Siraj	India	Second Test, Edgbaston (2)
6-99	Akash Deep	India	Second Test, Edgbaston (4)
5-33	Gus Atkinson	England	Fifth Test, The Oval (1)
5-72	Ben Stokes	England	Fourth Test, Old Trafford (1)
5-74	Jasprit Bumrah	India	Third Test, Lord's (1)
5-83	Jasprit Bumrah	India	First Test, Headingley (2)
5-104	Mohammed Siraj	India	Fifth Test, The Oval (4)
5-125	Josh Tongue	England	Fifth Test, The Oval (3)

Scintillating Smith puts Ashes beyond England

ASHES SERIES 2019
SERIES DRAWN 2-2
AUSTRALIA RETAINED THE ASHES

01-05 Aug	1 Australia 284 & 487-7dec beat England 374 & 146 by 251 runs	Edgbaston
14-18 Aug	2 Australia 250 & 154-6 drew with England 258 & 258-5dec	Lord's
22-26 Aug	3 England 67 & 362-9 beat Australia 179 & 246 by one wicket	Headingley
04-08 Sep	4 Australia 497-8dec & 186-6dec beat England 301 & 197 by 185 runs	Old Trafford
12-15 Sep	5 England 294 & 329 beat Australia 225 & 263 by 135 runs	The Oval

ENGLAND crashed out of Ashes contention with one match left to play as Australia took an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series with victory late on the final day of the fourth Test.

Josh Hazlewood trapped Craig Overton plumb lbw to bring a reasonably gutsy England resistance to an end - but the plaudits in this series must be mainly reserved instead for former Aussie skipper Steve Smith.

Disgraced in a ball-tampering scandal which rocked Australian cricket in the early part of last year, Smith has gone a long a way to redeem himself by playing almost perfectly since his return to the team this summer.

The Sydney man has scored totals of 144, 142, 92, 211 and 82, and so averages a rather ridiculous 134.20.

He basically only seems to get out when he gets bored - and it feels like England have basically given up trying to get him out otherwise.

It was no surprise then that, with a chance to retain the Ashes with victory at Old Trafford, Australia opted to bat and attempt to set a total, despite the unsettled weather.

England, by contrast, hoped to get the Aussies out cheaply to take control of the game and series - and Stuart Broad delivered two early wickets following a complete washout of the first session of day one.

But from the somewhat awkward position of 28-2, Australia progressed serenely without further loss to 144 as Smith embarked on yet another odyssey of an innings.

At 144-3, Smith lost Marnus Labuschagne as a partner, the latter having replaced the former as the first ever concussion substitute in Test cricket in the rainy draw in the second match at Lord's.

Labuschagne himself did well at the crease and he deservedly retained his place in the team for the third Test at Headingley and again at Old Trafford, even despite the return of Smith.

Further contributions down the order from current captain Tim Paine (58) and Mitchell Starc (54 not out) helped the Aussies eventually post an imposing 497-8 before their declaration after tea on day two.

Unsurprisingly, England began tentatively and began a delayed day three with nightwatchman Overton at the crease following the dismissal of opener Joe Denly (4) for another cheap score on the previous evening.

Overton himself lasted less than two overs of the new day and, at 25-2, it looked as if England might be rolled over quite easily.

Instead, Rory Burns and Joe Root finally showed some resistance and took England through to tea without any further damage.

But both men fell within 17 balls of each other and, by the end of day three, Starc had also managed to remove Jonny Bairstow.

A better forecast for the weekend suggested that, despite rain affecting two of the first three days, there would still be a result in this match. England, however, were well behind in the game.

At least there was the reassuring Ben Stokes was at the crease as day before began - but, this time, there was no repeat of his Headingley heroics and, when he edged Starc to Smith at second slip, England were 243-7 with only Jos Buttler and tail remaining.

Buttler made 41 as England narrowly edged past a follow-on which was not likely to have been enforced in any case - and, left without the choice, Australia set about quick runs with which to kill off the hosts.

This did not exactly go to plan, though, as opener David Warner landed a pair with a third successive duck to add to his other scores in this series of two, eight, three, five and 61.

Warner was also banned following the sandpaper scandal and, even before then, had a somewhat chequered disciplinary past.

Unlike Smith though, he still has nothing to be proud of. He has contributed little of note to this series.

Having reduced Australia to 44-4, England appeared to be stumbling their way back into another match - but Smith remained resolutely immovable as he put on yet another century stand, this time with Matthew Wade.

Smith was eventually out for 82 - his lowest score of the series - though only after having opted to play the reverse sweep in an attempt to chase quick runs.

Four overs later, Australia declared for a second time in the match, setting England a record target of 383, 24 runs more than they had required in Leeds.

More likely, England would need to bat out time and secure a draw which would keep the contest for the urn alive until the fifth and final Test at the Oval this week.

But that did not seem too likely at all when the main contributors from the first innings - Burns and Root - were both out for ducks to Pat Cummins by the end of the first over.

England were 0-2 with Denly and Jason Roy at the crease, both players whose selection has been subject to much criticism. Somehow both players made it to the close of play on day four.

By lunch on day five, however, England were 87-4. Denly was still there, to his credit - but Roy was bowled through the gate by Cummins for 31 and Stokes fell shortly afterwards.

A further two wickets followed in the next session to leave England at tea on 166-6 with 36 overs left to play and Buttler as the only specialist batsman remaining.

Hazlewood would account for the Somerset man after he misjudged a leave and the ball cannoned into the top of off-stump - and Jofra Archer was lbw to Nathan Lyon in the following over.

With Overton and Leach at the crease, England appeared to exhale one last breath of hope into saving the match, as the pair was able to survive through 14 overs.

But Leach was eventually caught by Wade at short-leg off the part-time off-spin of Labuschagne – and, 10 balls later, Hazlewood trapped Overton lbw.

Overton, of course, had a review to use up - but the check showed the decision by on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena was good and so merely confirmed that it was over for Overton and over for England.

Australia have retained the Ashes and have at the very least avoided defeat in a Test series in England for the first time in 18 years. It could and should get better than that, of course.

Victory at the Oval would result in Australia taking the series 3-1, which coincidentally would be the same score that England achieved when winning away in the Ashes in 2010-11.

And, on the balance of play so far, that would feel just about right, if only to demonstrate the stranglehold which Smith has had over the English bowlers.

Hazlewood and Cummins, meanwhile, have enjoyed similar dominance over a home batting line-up which, save for a few outstanding exceptions, remains as sketchy as ever.

During his post-match press conference, captain Root, perhaps understandably, was not slow to focus on the Headingley heist and other occasional bright moments which had kept England's hopes alive.

But Root will also surely be aware that he has never really convinced in the leadership role and that it has undoubtedly had an effect on his performances with the bat.

Furthermore, the departure of head coach Trevor Bayliss at the end of this summer acts as the natural end to a cycle in which the focus of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been unashamedly on white-ball cricket at the expense of the longest form of the game.

In this regard, the policy has been successful - England have become the world's best One Day International team and won the ICC World Cup for the first time ever.

But the Test team, which was itself ranked number one back in 2011, has unquestionably suffered and it is now instead marooned in the middle of the rankings list with little sign of improvement on the way.

After all, it will take more than a change of coach, captain, or both to make England more competitive again in the Test arena.

Pertinently, the County Championship resumes this week with three rounds of fixtures yet to be completed.

Ever more, the Championship gets shoved to the margins of the season - and the outlook of a change of tack from the ECB looks bleak considering 2020 finally brings about the much-derided arrival of the Hundred.

For sure, this Ashes defeat hurts - as Ashes defeats invariably do - but, to be fair, this World Cup-winning, record chase-breaking summer has still been an amazing, joyous rollercoaster for English cricket.

Now, though, there simply must be some sort of realignment made by the ECB between red-ball and white-ball cricket.

Otherwise, innings such as those by Stokes at Headingley, and Smith pretty much everywhere, will become a dying art.

Moreover, as dramatic as it sounds, glorious summers for English cricket could even become a thing of the past.

CENTURIES

211 Steve Smith (Australia), fourth Test

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

117 Matthew Wade (Australia), fifth Test

110 Matthew Wade (Australia), first Test

FIVE-FORS

6-45 Jofra Archer (England), third Test

6-62 Jofra Archer (England), fifth Test

6-49 Nathan Lyon (Australia), first Test

5-30 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test
5-46 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), fifth Test

5-86 Stuart Broad (England), first Test

MOST RUNS

774 Steve Smith (Australia) @ 110.57

441 Ben Stokes (England) @ 55.12

390 Rory Burns (England) @ 39.00

353 Marnus Labaschagne (Australia) @ 50.42

337 Matthew Wade (Australia) @ 33.70
325 Joe Root (England) @ 32.50

312 Joe Denly (England) @ 31.20
247 Jos Buttler (England) @ 24.70
214 Jonny Bairstow (England) @ 23.77
191 Travis Head (Australia) @ 27.28

MOST WICKETS

29 Pat Cummins (Australia) @ 19.62

23 Stuart Broad (England) @ 26.65 
22 Jofra Archer (England) @ 20.27

20 Josh Hazlewood (Australia) @ 21.85
20 Nathan Lyon (Australia) @ 33.40

12 Jack Leach (England) @ 25.83
10 Chris Woakes (England) @ 33.10
8 Ben Stokes (England) @ 45.25

Amazing chase

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. 

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

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

9 Chris Woakes (England) @ 29.00