This time there was no miracle; no great escape of which to speak. Ben Stokes, hero of Headingley, warrior of the 2019 World Cup final, produced one of the most stunning centuries in Test cricket’s 146-year history but, at 3.14pm on a truly febrile fifth day, he stood hunched over his bat, crestfallen and finally cracked open.
An all-rounder who burned his image on to Australian retinas in Leeds four years ago had been reliving the carnage wrought that day and then some. And while Stokes remained, defying the bouncer barrage and clobbering sixes into the Tavern Stand like an iron giant, England and their supporters still believed a target of 371 runs could be reeled in for a 1-1 series scoreline after two Tests.
But then it was over, Stokes caught off a top edge off Josh Hazlewood when attempting a 10th six, gone for 155 from 214 balls. England were seven wickets down, 70 runs still short of their gargantuan task, and Lord’s – bar the pockets of spectators decked out in canary yellow – was stunned. A 2-0 lead in this Ashes series was within touching distance for Pat Cummins and his impressive Australia team, duly wrapped up an hour later and by a 43-run margin when Mitchell Starc sent Josh Tongue’s leg stump tumbling.
Only one team in Ashes history have won from England’s current predicament; they had a chap called Don Bradman in their ranks and baggy green caps on their heads. But then perhaps such thoughts can be deferred for a little while, even if there is just a three-day turnaround before the third Test at Headingley. Over the past five days another Ashes epic has been witnessed, with its gripping final instalment packed with enough incident and acrimony to produce a Channel 9 documentary 45 years hence.
If Australia were the victors, the superior of the two teams over the course of the match and with Nathan Lyon on crutches since day two, then Stokes was the story. Well, Stokes and the incident that unleashed one of the most vengeful exhibitions of hitting seen in NW8 and Stuart Broad’s latest role as Ashes irritant-in-chief. The incident came moments before lunch when Jonny Bairstow was run out – later corrected to stumped – by the wicketkeeper Alex Carey at the end of the 52nd over.
Bairstow had just let a short ball from Cameron Green sail through to Carey and – in a moment of absentmindedness, believing the ball to be dead – he wandered out of his crease. Carey had already underarmed the ball towards the stumps before Bairstow set off, pinging the bails off when his shy hit the coconut. Australia appealed, the TV umpire, Marais Erasmus, confirmed the inevitable, and all hell broke loose in St John’s Wood.
Instinctively, and by the letter of the law, it was out; a dozy piece of cricket from Bairstow. But this was one of those where the spirit of the game – as nebulous as the law is definitive – emerges from its slumber. We have seen these dismissals before, too, such as when India ran out Ian Bell at Trent Bridge in 2011 when he thought a session was completed, only for MS Dhoni to withdraw the appeal during the tea interval and allow the Englishman to continue his innings.
This time there were no such thoughts among the touring side, however, and Lord’s erupted in indignation, chants of “Same old Aussies, always cheating” ringing out like church bells for the rest of the contest. England, having already lost Ben Duckett for a puckish 83 and through a smart catch from Carey, were 193 for six, 178 runs short of their target. Out walked the start of a diplodocus tail. Broad was overheard on the stump microphones telling Carey: “That is all you will be remembered for.”
At the other end, having ground and guided his way to 62 by this point, Stokes erupted like Krakatoa and by deed rather than word. He unleashed a truly jaw-dropping assault on Australia’s bowlers, 38 runs off just 16 balls and pumping Green for six, six, six – the number of the beast, by a player in beast-mode – to bring up his 13th Test hundred. By lunch, as the players returned to the pavilion and ugly scenes between some MCC members and the tourists unfolded, England were 243 for six, 128 runs required.
Stokes propelled his second ball of the afternoon from Hazlewood over the long-on boundary but from there a tense game of cat and mouse unfolded, the England captain farming the strike with the fielders spread to all parts and Broad riding one or two bouncers at the end of each over when called upon. Every time the ball flew to the cherubic Carey, Broad, the scamp, made a point of grounding his bat behind the line.
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It was a partnership as lop-sided as a Russian election result, Stokes and Broad putting on 108 in 122 balls for the seventh-wicket – a split of 93/11 respectively, plus extras – and Australia appeared to be re-entering that Headingley headspace, not least when a catch went up off Stokes on 114 and Steve Smith, centurion in the first innings, bungled it. Both Englishmen had shown courage under fire, too, helmets crunched, concussion tests undergone and in the case of Stokes, an elbow struck flush by Cummins.
But with fewer runs than were required when Jack Leach famously entered the fray four years ago, it was all but done, Carey starting the procession when safely pouching Stokes in a moment he will be remembered for back home, certainly. It sent Australia en route to their commanding lead and yet this Ashes series is burning hotter than ever.
