Ben Stokes admitted he was ‘nervous’ at the end and unable to watch the final 20 deliveries as he praised the ‘amazing’ Harry Brook for his match-winning innings to keep the Ashes alive at Headingley.
Showing a maturity beyond his 24 years, and more experience than his 10 Test matches would suggest, Brook played the Test innings of his career, with his 75 a key deciding factor as England chased down 251 to secure a three-wicket victory.
The door was open from comments by Moeen Ali earlier in the week that England could not always rely on their talisman captain Ben Stokes, and as the hosts fought to keep the series alive in Leeds, it was local hero Brook who stepped up.
The balance of the game had just started to swing in the way of Australia, and England were 171 for six when Brook and Chris Woakes put on a match-winning 50 runs, before the Yorkshireman was out with 21 still needed.
Mark Wood stepped up alongside Woakes hitting 16 from eight deliveries, with the latter finishing unbeaten on 32, including scoring the winning runs, but it was that final partnership, that the captain was unable to watch.
"I’m not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous at the end,” Stokes said. “I walked about 2km around the Headingley dressing room in the last half-hour, I didn’t actually watch the last 20 runs being scored.
“It’s a completely different place when you can’t do anything, you can’t influence the game anymore, you’re left watching and hoping things are going to go your way.
“Because of where the series was at before this game started the whole performance with bat, ball, field … it was just an unbelievable effort from everybody.
“There’s been little moments when people have stood up and swung the game back towards us. Even little things like Woody’s knock the other day, when he got 24 off 8 balls (that) was a massive momentum swing for us.
“Looking back at certain individuals and the performances they put in and it’s all led to us being here as the winning team today.”
It was a nail-biting conclusion to a Test match in a series where every game so far has gone right down to the wire, and although England’s batting in the second innings was more typical, it was not without a slight ‘Bazball’ flair.
Harry Brook’s 75 guided England to victory at Headingley— (Getty Images)
The decision to promote Moeen Ali up the order looked as if it had come crashing down when he was bowled to leave England 60 for two, but actually allowing Brook to come in at his preferred number five position proved to be the right decision.
Stokes explained how the decision came about and gave an insight into the workings behind the scenes in the dressing room.
“It was him actually, it was Mo (who first came up with the idea),” the England captain said.
“He came to Baz last night and said ‘I want to go at 3, I want to take the Aussies on in this run chase’ basically ‘let me out there’.
“And when we thought about it, we actually thought that him coming in at three he was able to impact the game more than he would be at number 7.
“It doesn’t always work out because obviously we thought it was a real good move for us and I just loved the fact that Mo is willing to put himself in those situations that he wants to get out there and help the team in a positive way.
“When I took the role on I asked for 10 other selfless cricketers, and that little moment of Mo going to Baz and saying ‘I want the opportunity’ is everything that we’re about as a team.”
