England have unthinkable double injury for fourth Ashes Test after Australia win

Three years ago across the Pennines Chris Woakes played a magnificent innings to see England to a three-wicket win after an exciting run chase against Pakistan. It being Covid times there was no-one there to see it.

On Sunday in Leeds, a packed stadium off its collective head with an untreatable case of Ashes fever, rose in acclamation to Woakes as one in grateful thanks as he did it again for England.

The 84 not out at Old Trafford was, in the dry surrounds of the scorebook, much the superior contribution compared to yesterday’s 32 not out at Headingley.

But a sporting career is about much more than the numbers.

He may play professional cricket forever and a day but he will never feel more alive than he did when he crashed Mitchell Starc to the cover boundary to keep the series alive and send the place into meltdown.

Remember that Ben Stokes picture from four years ago? Woakes will have his version on his mantelpiece now as the ultimate theatre of Test match melodrama erupted.

His stay of 75 minutes in another epic Headingley potboiler gripped by thumb-screw tension will be an innings the unassuming Brummie will treasure forever.

So too the nation if this England side can continue what they have started at Headingley and become the first in history to win the Ashes from 2-0 down.

After a pause for breath which both teams – and most of the country need – the Ashes show will roll on to Manchester next Wednesday.

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If they didn’t believe before, England will do so now.

The Test was in the balance when Woakes strode out to the crease yesterday. The England No 8’s heart must have been going ten to the dozen.

There were still 80 runs needed and the superstars had gone, leaving the responsibility on a fellow playing his first Test for 16 months and Harry Brook – a Test match babe in arms.

It was asking a lot but how they responded.

Their stand of 59 – backed up on the finishing straight by some lusty Mark Wood axework – proved the difference.

In a series where Australia have owned the big moments, this was England grabbing a dicey situation and grabbing it by the scruff of the neck.

Under colossal pressure, Brook’s innings was outstanding but he was helped so much by Woakes’s refusal to be a sleeping partner.

He is a naturally positive player and was not about to let the situation affect that.

The fact that he was scoring freely eased the burden on Brook.

The boundaries were greeted rapturously by the crowd but so too the blocks and leaves. It was that sort of every-ball-matters day.

When Brook departed, it was down to Woakes to see it through. Which he did. Gloriously.

There were fans at Headingley on Sunday wearing black T-shirts featuring a wagon wheel of Jack Leach’s one not out from four years ago.

Maybe in years to come there will be a limited edition Woakes version.

What a pick he turned out to be for Headingley by Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

His six wickets with the ball were invaluable with the Saturday evening spell under the lights that took out Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey critical.

With concerns over Stokes’s fitness to bowl, it is unthinkable now that England can do without Woakes for Old Trafford.

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