ENGLAND kept their Ashes dream alive with a nail-biting three-wicket win over Australia at Headingley.
Harry Brook was the hero as he scored 75 but it was up to Chris Woakes and Mark Wood to get England over the line.
Mark Wood and Chris Woakes celebrate the winning runsAP
GettyHarry Brook’s knock of 75 runs inspired England’s victory[/caption]
ReutersChris Woakes played a key role in the win with bat and ball[/caption]
Mitchell Starc’s five-for couldn’t inspire Australia to victoryPA
Woakes took six wickets across two innings and his knock of 28 gives England hope of winning The Ashes, with the Aussies now leading the series 2-1 with two Tests remaining.
Australia could have wrapped up the series in West Yorkshire and piled on the pressure after taking the wickets of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession after lunch.
They gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Brook’s wicket fell with England needing 21 to win.
But Mitchell Starc was unable to add to his five-for as Woakes hit the winning runs.
Stokes gave England a fighting chance after scoring 80 in the first innings.
Zak Crawley was next best with 33 which shows how much England struggled with the bat in this Test match.
But Woakes and Stuart Broad ripped through Australia’s batting order to bowl the visitors out for 224 in their second innings.
That meant England had to chase 251 and they got off to a good start with Crawley scoring 44.
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But it was Brook who deserves all the plaudits as he reached 1000 Test runs in fewer balls than any other batsman.
The Yorkshireman would have hit the winning runs too had he timed his hook correctly.
But instead looped up into the air and into the hands of Aussie captain Pat Cummins.
England’s three-wicket win was achieved despite Ben Stokes’ dismissal for just 13, a soft nick down the leg-side robbing the hosts of their inspirational captain and the architect of their 2019 Ashes miracle at the start of the decisive final session.
But in Brook they had a new hero, ready to carry the burden all the way to final furlong before passing it over to Woakes and Wood – making an emphatic first impression on their belated introductions to the series.
The series is now perfectly poised at 2-1 to Australia, with two Tests to play.
The series overshadowed by controversy after Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped by wicket keeper Alex Carey in the Second Test.
Lord’s members scrapped with “cheating” Aussies after the unsporting incident.