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Watch the best bits as Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Nasser Hussain and more watched the stunning conclusion to Ben Stokes’ match-winning Ashes knock at Headingley.
Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes relived the incredible finish to the third Ashes Test at Headingley last summer on an Ashes Watchalong.
Click on the video above to watch some of the highlights as the England stars joined Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and Rob Key for end of the Headingley epic.
What was going through Stokes’ head during his spectacular innings? What were the nerves like in the dressing room? And what were they thinking when Nathan Lyon fumbled that run out chance?
Rocking up to Headingley…
“There were a few nerves flying around so it was about harnessing them. I couldn’t do that but Ben managed to master it.”
Jonny Bairstow: “The whole atmosphere during the day was electric. It was a fitting game for the crowd and the way they got behind all of the guys when they came into bat was magnificent.”
Jos Buttler is run out…
Root: “It was a quiet dressing room at this point.”
Feeling the pressure?
Root: “Two days ago, 60-odd all out, I was thinking I was going to get the sack at the end of it. For the game to turn out the way it did was incredible really”
“I remember touching gloves [with Stokes] and thinking he was completely in the zone. You have a chat about what the bowlers are doing, is the ball reversing etc. But he was just composed, even more than normal.”
Here comes Jofra Archer…
“You know he is talented and has a very good aggressive game; you are just hoping you get to see the better side of what he can do.”
Archer falls to Nathan Lyon…
Bairstow: “We’re staring down the barrel, aren’t we? On a turning pitch, we’ve got three left-handers for Lyon to bowl into the rough to.
“It’s going to be tough but what unravels now is absolutely amazing and something I’ll never ever forget.”
Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton: “It’s such a cruel game; Lyon bowled absolutely beautifully on this last day and yet he’ll be remembered for his fumbled run out.
“In ‘The Test’ documentary, when Justin Langer made Australia watch back the game you could see Lyon at the back of the room barely able to watch. He was behind his hands!”
Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain: “I thought [Australia captain] Tim Paine got it spot on till England were nine down. Until Jack Leach walks to the crease, he’s had a good Test match.
“In that last hour and a half, he lost the plot. I thought he choked, to be honest; I thought Australia choked.”
“When something like that is put in front of you, in a tough situation like this, it weirdly becomes easier. Before, even that partnership with Jonny, it was still a case of what do we do?
“Look at the confidence now; he is Marcus Trescothick out there!”
Stokes goes on the charge…
Root: “I remember being sat in the dressing room with Broad on one side and Buttler on the other and when Jos turns round and says ‘this guy is a freak’, you know you’re witnessing something special.”
A change in the Aussies?
Stokes: “They weren’t [sledging]. You could just feel their tension.
“Even though it wasn’t at each other, you could just sense from their body language. Even Lyon, when he was bowling earlier, he always walks facing you backward to his mark. But he started walking with his back to the batters.
“Little things like that, you start to sense.”
“Throughout the whole series – it wasn’t just one individual – there were a few exchanges, but it keeps it lively and makes you know you’re in a competition. Some people really enjoy it and some not so much.
“I think it worked against Australia in this innings, a few occasions where they might have said something to Ben – the night before actually, I remember him walking off saying ‘that’s going to win us the game tomorrow’.”
Root: “We had a few guys in the physio’s room – they’d been there all day. We had Joe Denly pacing round the toilets, reading through some Yorkshire phrases on the wall for about an hour and a half – a Kent lad now fluent in Yorkshire.
“A few guys wouldn’t leave the balcony and the viewing gallery got full with around five or 10 to win – that’s when we all came together. You get some very superstitious characters in games like this.”
Stokes can’t watch Leach…
Stokes: “It was just because I was powerless. It got to the point where it was like ‘we’re so close to doing this’. Before, yes we could still do it but we were quite far away.
Stokes six; England need two to win…
Root: “At this point, Broady put his head through the roof in the viewing gallery – it’s really small and he put his head through one of the panels.”
Lyon fumbles run-out chance…
Root: “I’ve seen that face before. That’s the face you get when you drop one at slip off Stokes.”
Stokes: “It doesn’t spin! One of the Australian players out there, I can’t remember who it was, said ‘they’ve got one [review] left’, basically saying ‘give it out and then let them review it’. That’s not how it works.”
Stokes smashes the winning runs…
Stokes: “Great memories! One of the great days – memories we’ll always have together as a group.
“The changing room is sacred as a cricketer and that evening after this day was just sensational. Us as a group of players, support staff, management, will always be able to look back on that day – on the field what happened but also the memories we created in the changing room. It was just awesome.”
Sourse: skysports.com
