Sitting two-nil down before this third Test and needing three straight wins to regain the Ashes was, said Ben Stokes, the “perfect place” for his England team. A captain with his own tankard and bar stool at the last chance saloon can only get them so far, however, and his fellow drinkers must step up to keep their Ashes hopes alive.
That England got to within 26 runs of Australia’s first innings 263 all out – a total ballooned by their own butterfingers 24 hours earlier – was down to the latest display of shock and awe from Stokes. With his body falling apart, and teammates regularly kicked out of the back door in a six-wicket performance from Pat Cummins, Stokes cracked 80 more runs of bloody-minded defiance when all hope seemed lost for his troops.
