Daily Mail - 27.08.2019

(^) Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 27, 2019
72 ASHES SENSATION
HAVE YOU SEEN
A GREATER TEST?
PAUL NEWMAN
(Cricket correspondent)
No, this cannot be bettered and it
was a privilege to be there. How
can a team be bowled out for 67
and still win? That hadn’t been
done in more than a hundred
years, for goodness sake. I wasn’t
at Headingley 1981 or Edgbaston
2005, so there really is no competi-
tion. This is why Test cricket
remains the greatest game and
please, please, may it always be so.
That’s the sort of cricket that will
inspire a new audience, surely? I
cannot bear the prospect of spend-
ing my retirement watching just
Twenty20 and, heaven forbid, The
Hundred. I just can’t.
NASSER HUSSAIN
(Former England captain)
I waTcHEd some of the 1981
series as a young lad, but the only
game I’ve seen that would run this
one close was the 2005 ashes Test
at Edgbaston. That had incredible
drama right at the very end, but
the difference between that match
and Headingley was that Edgbas-
ton had various protagonists
affecting the game at different
moments, while Headingley ended
up being all about one man. and
not only did England win after
being bowled out for 67, but they
needed 73 with only one wicket in
hand. In terms of miraculousness,
Headingley wins it for me.
DAVID ‘BUMBLE’ LLOYD
(Broadcaster, former England
batsman and coach)
I was out and about during the
game and strangers were coming
up to me on the street saying:
‘Have you seen what’s just
happened at Headingley?’ It feels
like the game has lifted the nation’s
spirits, a bit like Botham’s heroics
did in 1981. and I also think more
people got involved in this match.
The first four days were sold out,
whereas in the 1981 Headingley
Test, the total attendance over
five days was 52,000. I can’t think
of a Test that has captured the
nation like this one.
LAWRENCE BOOTH
(Wisden editor)
THE only Test I’ve seen in the
flesh that can compete with Head-
ingley 2019 was Edgbaston 2005 —
another occasion when England
avoided going 2-0 down against
australia by the skin of their teeth
(and with a little help from the
umpire). But that summer there
were still three Tests to go. defeat
at Headingley would have been
curtains, and the questions would
have started about Joe Root’s
captaincy. some of the world cup
gloss would have been removed
too. Three Tests have been won by
teams who followed on, and two
have been tied, but this game has
to rank with any.
HOW ABOUT A
GREATER TEST
INNINGS?
BOOTH: For sheer shock value,
Kusal Perera’s unbeaten 153 for
sri Lanka against south africa at
durban in February ( another one-
wicket win) will take some beat-
ing. For out-and-out cojones,
there’s Kevin Pietersen’s ashes-
clinching 158 at The oval in 2005.
But for his range of strokes — a
ramp here, a reverse-sweep there,
straight sixes everywhere — Ben
stokes has to go straight into the
top handful. after England’s first-
innings 67, people rightly moaned
that white-ball cricket had dam-
aged Test techniques. But without
white-ball cricket, stokes would
not have been able to bat like he
did on sunday. It was a very
modern piece of genius.
HUSSAIN: That was the best
innings I’ve seen by an English-
man, especially when you con-
sider that he’d already climbed
one Everest already this sum-
mer at the world cup. He must
have been mentally drained, so to
play like that was remarkable. In
terms of overseas innings, every-
one’s been talking about Kusal
Perera’s knock against south
africa durban earlier in the year.
But I also think back to VVs Lax-
man’s 281 at Kolkata against steve
waugh’s australians in 2001, when
India won after following on and
he had to bat on a turning pitch
against shane warne.
LLOYD: There have been a few.
Graham Gooch’s unbeaten 154 at
Headingley in 1991 was one, and
there was Brian Lara’s 153 not out
against australia at Bridgetown in

1999. But I’ve picked a couple that
      can compare with stokes. one was
      in a draw: Mike atherton’s 185 not
      out in nearly 11 hours to save Eng-
      land at Johannesburg in 1999-2000.
      Then there’s sachin Tendulkar’s
      wonderful 103 to help India chase
      down 387 to beat England at chen-
      nai in 2008-09. It came after the

terrorist attack in Mumbai, and

just felt like the right result in an

emotional game.

NEWMAN: No, again. In the dizzi-

ness of the moment, I said it was

the best innings ever played in Test

cricket, and countless viewings of

the highlights don’t reduce the

hyperbole. The greatest innings I’d

ever seen before this was Graham

Gooch at this same Headingley

ground in 1991 against west Indies

at their best, with derek Pringle

playing the supporting role. This

has to be better because the ashes

were on the line. It was perfect

from stokes in every way.

WHERE DOES STOKES

GO FROM HERE?

LLOYD: I hope he packs his bags

and takes his family to a secret

hideaway for a few days. He just

needs to get away from it all and

come back refreshed for Manches-

ter. His life took a wrong turn not

so long ago, but this summer has

been all about redemption: first

that world cup win, now two hun-

dreds in the ashes. He did the

right thing by going away and get-

ting fit, and now he has to stay

that way. we’ve always talked

about Botham and Flintoff, but

HUSSAIN BOOTH NEWMAN LLOYD

Sportsmail’s cricket experts reflect on a

sensational Headingley Test, Stokes’ heroics

and consider the destination of the Ashes now

Ben is a very modern

have to make sure he

Firepower:

Stokes piles

on agony

for Paine

GETTY IMAGES

Suffering:

jaded

Woakes

REX

Fall guy:

Wade may

be axed

AFP