Haven’t we seen this one before?<\/span><\/p>\n Pint glasses flew through the air at a sun-baked Headingley – beer sprayed on to the heads of jubilant fans.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This was 2019 again.<\/span><\/p>\n On that Leeds Sunday it was Ben Stokes who kept England’s hopes of winning the Ashes alive. <\/span><\/p>\n Now it was Chris Woakes standing with bat and fist aloft before the famous Western Terrace, having struck the winning runs.<\/span><\/p>\n As the dust settled, Woakes, pads still on, sat and puffed out his cheeks on the Headingley dressing room benches, as Stokes had done four years earlier. <\/span><\/p>\n Stokes, meanwhile, hugged his team-mates, as his skipper Joe Root had done before.<\/span><\/p>\n “It’s a completely different place when you can’t do anything,” Stokes said.<\/span><\/p>\n “I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous at the end. <\/span><\/p>\n “I walked about two kilometres around the Headingley dressing room in the last half-hour. I didn’t actually watch the last 20 runs being scored.”<\/span><\/p>\n This Headingley fourth-day nerve-shredder began with the same rapturous roar, as two England batters emerged into the cauldron.<\/span><\/p>\n Solid defensive strokes were applauded, every run too – not just because England fans wanted to, but because it is better to be doing something, anything, when your body is fraught with such tension.<\/span><\/p>\n As wickets tumbled, the stress took a tighter grip. The foot taps, the squirms in your seat, the arms thrown into the air with a mind of their own.<\/span><\/p>\n Just after lunch came the moment Headingley dreaded. <\/span><\/p>\n Stokes, the talisman, flicking at one down the leg side. At first there was silence – he can’t have nicked it, of course Stokes hasn’t nicked it – before the realisation England’s captain was turning for the dressing room.<\/span><\/p>\n But if there is one thing these locals like more than Stokes, it is one of their own. Stokes said it before the game.<\/span><\/p>\n “They absolutely love the fact that Yorkshire people walk out and play here,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Step up Harry Brook. The 24-year-old learned the game 11 miles from here, in the small Yorkshire village of Burley-in-Wharfedale. He had made his debut for the county on this very ground as a teenager.<\/span><\/p>\n And in a record-breaking start to his Test career, Brook scored four hundreds in his first six Tests, in Rawalpindi, Multan, Karachi and Wellington. None of those innings came in the Ashes, or with the weight of a nation on his shoulders.<\/span><\/p>\n Still, he steered England through their most dangerous moments, the Australians and their outnumbered support sensing the moment they have waited 22 years for – an Ashes victory at the home of the enemy. <\/span><\/p>\n In his 75, Brook showed maturity well beyond his years. It took England to the brink of victory before Woakes finished off the job alongside Mark Wood.<\/span><\/p>\n Brook has the world at his feet – and more than \u00a31m from franchise leagues in the bank – but as he stood holding a beer with his family on the outfield afterwards, he was surely reflecting on his proudest moment.<\/span><\/p>\n In truth, the biggest difference from 2019 was this England win was a team effort, rather than a scarcely believable one-man rescue act.<\/span><\/p>\n As ever, Stokes played his part. Without his 80 in the first innings, Pat Cummins would be planning which barber to visit for his photograph with the urn.<\/span><\/p>\n But in turning Australia’s lower order into hopping tailenders, Wood’s raw pace has changed the complexion of the series with England now carrying a weapon to be feared.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether a result of the seriousness of their situation, or a response to criticism of their relaxed nature in the first two Tests, England have also looked more focused this week.<\/span><\/p>\n Before the match, amid the noise of Jonny Bairstow-gate, Stokes and Root carefully plotting their way through media conferences – wild predictions of a 150-run win were long gone.<\/span><\/p>\n There were times at Lord’s when the hosts had to be persuaded to bowl in ideal conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n Here, Stokes gave a speech with his team huddled by the pitch on day three before Australia’s batters had emerged into the gloom.<\/span><\/p>\n The result is a cricket team and series resurrected – a show ready to roll on.<\/span><\/p>\n It is easy to say as an Englishman, but no-one wanted a series billed as the best for a generation to be over before the end of high summer.<\/span><\/p>\n It has gripped us for three games – the Birmingham belter, the Rumble in north London and the Headingley hair-raiser. It now has the finish it deserves.<\/span><\/p>\n Both captains have said their sides can get better and both have questions to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n Does James Anderson come back for England on his home ground? Can wicketkeeper Bairstow keep his place as catches continue to be dropped and, more worryingly, left for others? <\/span><\/p>\n And who will fill England’s void at number three?<\/span><\/p>\n Cummins was asked if David Warner will keep his place after two single-figure scores, and replied “we’ll keep all our options open” – an answer that will do little to stop speculation.<\/span><\/p>\n There are 10 days until the teams take to the field again in Manchester, leaving us all just enough time to recover.<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Across](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/BBBD\/production\/_127816084_bbc_footer-1920x38-1x-1.jpg\")
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n