Ben Stokes says Headingley heroics will mean little if England do not regain Ashes

Ben Stokes says he will only reflect on his miracle innings at Headingley with complete satisfaction if England go on and win the Ashes.

Stokes struck one of Test cricket’s greatest knocks on Sunday, his unbeaten 135 inspiring England to a one-wicket victory that denied Australia the chance to go 2-0 up and retain the urn.

But the 28-year-old says that his incredible feat will only fully sink in – and will only rank as the best innings of his career so far – should England go on to regain the Ashes.

To do so, England must win at least one of the two remaining Tests, at Old Trafford and The Oval, and prevent Australia from achieving another success.

The tourists appeared in the box-seat as England, set 359 to win, slipped from 286-7 to 286-9 only for Stokes to stage a heroic counter-attack in a 76-run partnership with last-man Jack Leach.

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“I think momentum is huge in sport, especially in a series like the Ashes,” Stokes told Sky Sports News. “Australia will have gone through a lot of emotions throughout that game, as we did as well.

“I’m 100 per cent sure that when Stuart Broad got out, they thought that they would be getting the Ashes back at the end of the day.

“We went through ups and downs of emotions throughout that game and we came away with a win so we go to Manchester with that confidence, and also with the confidence of knowing that we can win from anywhere.

“Obviously it was an amazing game to be a part of and it has got us back into the series. But you can’t live off what you’ve done in the past; it’s all about what you can do in the here and now.”

‘We had to get the 67 out of our head’

England’s victory was all the more astonishing given their first-innings implosion, which left the hosts with just 67 runs on the board and a first-innings deficit of 112.

Explaining the turnaround, Stokes said: “You have to get over things like that pretty quickly – the turnaround between innings is very quick.

“We had to put our minds back on to bowling and knowing we still had a chance of restricting Australia and not giving ourselves too many runs to chase.

“Stuart Broad said before we walked out that we need to bowl at these guys like we are defending 170, so we had to get the 67 out of our head quite quickly and go and perform with the ball.”

England did limit Australia to 171/6 before stumps on day two but only after a Herculean spell from Stokes in which the vice-captain bowled Travis Head and had Matthew Wade caught behind, the seamer ending the day on his haunches.

“To be honest, I was a bit worried about how I was going to wake up in the morning but I was surprisingly alright!” reflected Stokes.

“Rooty came to me and said ‘do you want to start us off again at the bottom end?’ so I said ‘yeah’. After a few overs, getting the lactic acid and heaviness out of my legs I was pretty good, to be honest.”

‘Leach cleaning glasses is iconic picture’

Australia were bowled out for 246 in their second innings on day three but England then slipped to 15-2 before Root and Joe Denly rallied the hosts to 141-3.

Denly’s dismissal brought number five Stokes to the wicket and he determinedly saw out the day by scoring two off 50 balls, making sure he was at the wicket for a thrilling, fluctuating fourth day.

Australia appeared to have the game sewn up midway through the afternoon session only for the bespectacled Leach – who caught the eye by frequently wiping the steam and sweat from his glasses – and Stokes to prise it from their grasp.

Stokes’ stunning array of shots included a switch-hit off spinner Nathan Lyon for six – a stroke he explained was pre-meditated.

“Nathan Lyon was bowling on a pitch that was spinning, especially when he was chucking it out wide into the footholes,” he explained. “I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to get a boundary when he was bowling there.

“It’s a shot that I have practised and have had some success with. I was at the stage in the game where I just had to back what I was going to do with no half-measures and I decided that was going to play this shot and completely commit to it.”

He added: “It was only really when Leachy came in that my thought process and how I was going to go about getting the runs changed.

“Jack Leach cleaning his glasses… it was a pretty iconic picture that has been taken from that game. He’s got to take a lot of credit for us being able to get over the line and win that game because those 17 balls that he faced are probably the most crucial he’s ever going to have in his career.”

Watch day one of the fourth Test between England and Australia at Old Trafford from 10am, September 4 on Sky Sports The Ashes.

(c) Sky Sports 2019: Ben Stokes says Headingley heroics will mean little if England do not regain Ashes