Ben Stokes has told his England players to make sure Sunday’s triumph at Headingley is "just the start" of the ultimate Ashes comeback and warned Australia: "We can still get better."
England kept their hopes of winning back the Urn alive with a three-wicket victory in Leeds, Harry Brook scoring a vital 75 before bowlers Chris Woakes and Mark Wood combined with bat in hand to complete a chase of 251.
The win halves England’s series deficit to 2-1 and means Stokes’s men are still in with a shout of becoming only the second team ever to come from 2-0 down to win the Ashes, with Tests at Old Trafford and the Kia Oval to come.
Headingley produced yet another match of to-and-fro in keeping with the theme set at Edgbaston and Lord’s, and Stokes spoke of his relief at this time coming out on the right side of a tense finale.
"If you look at the first two games in terms of how tight they were, getting over the line in another tight game can mentally help, knowing that it’s another close game, but we’ve got over the line in this one," Stokes said.
"The first two didn’t go our way. If you sort of flip it around and we didn’t win this one and it’s tight again, you would think, ‘It’s just not meant to be’. We’re obviously over the moon that we won this one, but it’s just the start of what we know we need to do."
England’s bowlers were outstanding in Leeds, with Wood and Woakes superb on their returns to the line-up and Stuart Broad also continuing his fine series.
However, the home top order failed to fire and Stokes’s side were again wasteful in the field, with Jonny Bairstow’s form behind the stumps a particular concern. "I still think we can be better," Stokes added. "We can be better in certain areas, and that’s all we can do, keep trying to be better and better and as clear as we possibly can as a team. People always seem to have an answer after the fact. I don’t think anyone will ever crack it, that’s why it’s such a great game."
There is a nine-day gap until the start of the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, where James Anderson is expected to come back into the side on his home ground.
Australia also have selection headaches to ponder, after all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, deputising for Cameron Green, scored a century on his first Test outing in four years.
Opening batter David Warner made just five runs across two innings, both ended by long-time nemesis Broad, and, intriguingly, Australia captain Pat Cummins did not rule out the possibility that he could be the player to make way if Green is fit to return.
"We’ll keep all our options open," Cummins said, when asked about Marsh replacing Warner at the top of the order. "We should have a full roster, we’ll have a look at the wicket and have a chat and work out the best XI."
