‘Headingley does weird things’: Test and series on a knife’s edge

Australia must find a way of nullifying England’s talisman Ben Stokes after Travis Head ensured his team had a competitive target to defend as it strives for an Ashes series victory in a bowler-dominated third Test at Headingley.

Set 251 for victory thanks to Head’s 77, England were 0-27 at stumps, needing a further 224 to win following a third day when the first two sessions were lost to rain. Victory would give Australia their first successful Ashes series in England for 22 years.

“There’s enough there,” Head said of helpful pitch conditions, pointing to the relatively low team scores across the first three innings. “We know they’re going to come hard and try and push us off our lengths, and hopefully that creates opportunity. Headingley does weird things. You can look up and clouds can come in, and the ball can start swinging, or if it’s a sunny day it can be really nice to bat.”

England seamer Chris Woakes described Stokes as “superhuman”, but said England couldn’t rely on him every time.

“The scores in this game haven’t been high, so we know it’s not going to be straightforward,” Woakes said. “Hopefully, we can put some pressure on the Aussie bowlers, and we know it’s a fast-scoring ground, so hopefully that helps.”

England began their chase in typical Bazball fashion, taking 17 off the first two overs from captain Pat Cummins.

Australia’s last memory of Headingley was Stokes blazing a majestic, unbeaten 135 on the previous tour four years ago as England scored 9-362 for a remarkable victory. It was the second highest successful run chase in Headingley’s Test history, and now sits among five scores above 250 that have been chased there.

Over the past year of Bazball, England have had four successful last innings runs chases of more than 250, all in England. Three were against New Zealand and one against India.

If captain Cummins wasn’t such an unflappable character he’d probably have a sleepless night on Saturday, haunted by memories of Stokes hammering 155 in the second innings at Lord’s just last week and his 80 that dragged England back into this Test on Friday.

Resuming four wickets down under heavy skies in the late afternoon, Australia were reduced to 8-170 on Saturday as the ball darted and jumped around in helpful conditions for bowlers.

The loss of those four quick wickets prompted Head to protect the tail and take to the bowling, hammering the express pace of Mark Wood for successive sixes at one stage.

Following the resumption, Woakes surprised Mitch Marsh with a ball that bounced a little more than expected, taking his glove on the way through to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

The demise of Marsh brought Alex Carey to the crease, welcomed by the expected jeers, boos and chants from the Western Terrace. Carey retains his standing as England’s new public enemy number one following the controversial stumping of Bairstow at Lord’s.

With slips in wait, Broad bowled some wonderful deliveries that moved past the outside edge of the left-hander’s bat, and then Woakes produced a replica of the delivery that removed Marsh, jumping off a length and striking Carey (5) on his gloves before crashing into the stumps.

The dismissals raised the question of why England, like Australia at times in this series, has so often become obsessed by short bowling plans.

Despite having fresh bowlers on a helpful pitch under overcast skies, Stokes spread his field far and wide and had Woakes and Broad bowling short to Head at their modest pace. Head kept swatting the ball behind square leg for easy singles without really finding his sometimes-questionable technique against the moving ball tested. This may prove costly.

“There’s no doubt it’s a challenging thing,” Head said of England’s short-pitched bowling plan. “It’s foreign. There’s not many periods we’ve seen in Test cricket where it has just been 100 per cent short balls.

“I wasn’t surprised by the plan, I was prepared for the plan, I thought it was going to come. Maybe not to the extent that it did. I felt like I’ve had moments throughout the series where I’ve been able to get them out of that plan.”

By the time Wood was bowling to Head with Mitchell Starc as his batting partner, there were seven men on the boundary for Head.

Whether Australia will revert to such tactics when their quest to secure the Ashes resumes on Sunday will depend largely on the fluky conditions Headingley is famous for and, of course, Stokes.

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