Monday 26 August 2019 16:52, UK
If Lord's is the Home of Cricket then Headingley is the home of English cricket miracles.
Sir Ian Botham in 1981 and now Ben Stokes 38 years later - two talismanic all-rounders keeping an Ashes series alive after pulling England back from the brink with startling centuries.
There are many similarities between the two feats, mainly in that in both matches England were in utter disarray.
Beefy's side were forced to follow on after being razed for 174 in reply to Australia's 401-9 declared, while Stokes' team had been skittled for 67 in their first innings and set a whopping 359 for victory.
A key difference, though, was in the belief that a win could actually materialise.
From 135-7 in the 1981 Test, all the momentum was with England. Beefy bashing the ball to all parts as Australia were set 130 to win and then Bob Willis steaming through the Baggy Greens like a man possessed.
There were a few dicey moments. At 56-1 before Willis dismissed Trevor Chappell to begin his famous 8-43 and then from 75-8 when Ray Bright and Dennis Lillee combined for a stand of 35. But England always had a sniff.
At Headingley on Sunday, their hopes appeared over time and time again after they began the morning needing a further 203 runs with seven wickets intact for their highest Test run chase of 359.
The early departure of Joe Root - the man on whom England's chances appeared to rest - seemed a death knell before Stokes and Jonny Bairstow remedied the situation with a stand of 86. The impetus Bairstow provided should not be underestimated as England walloped the new ball.
Then it was over again as England lost 5-41 after lunch. Stokes partially at fault for one of the dismissals when his mix-up with Jos Buttler led to the latter being run out by a distance by Travis Head from midwicket.
Seventy-three needed with only Jack Leach for company. It couldn't be done. But it was.
Stokes, limpet-like en route to two from 50 balls the previous night and then sensible as he allowed Bairstow to dominate the key fifth-wicket partnership, then became swashbuckling as he took apart Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon with boundaries and then shrewd as he marshalled Leach through the back-end of an incredible run-chase.
"Naturally, his innings will be compared to Botham's 149 but, let me tell you, that Ben's is the better knock," Willis told Sky Sports Cricket on Sunday evening. Read more from Bob here.
"Ian's started off as an outrageous slog with edges off the seam bowlers. Kim Hughes should have bowled the spinner Ray Bright earlier, and Ian would have hit one up in the air.
"In contrast, Ben looked so composed - he knew when to press the accelerator, and he knew when to encourage his tailenders.
"He played some outrageous strokes towards the end, displaying immense confidence. Some of the shots that Stokes played today hadn't been invented when Ian was playing!"
Better perhaps then, but like '81, there were moments where it could have gone wrong.
Stokes was dropped by Marcus Harris with 17 runs required and would have been pinned lbw by Lyon had Australia not burned their review a short time earlier, while Leach would have been run out had Lyon not inexplicably fluffed at the non-striker's end.
But like '81, it ended in an improbable England win, and like '81, the triumph also featured a number of stellar support acts.
Beefy had Graham Dilley, Chris Old and our very own Mr Willis 38 years earlier as he ensured Australia would bat again, while Stokes had Leach during that unbroken last-wicket stand of 76.
An unlikely hero who is only in the side due to the struggles of Moeen Ali and had to regularly stop proceedings in order to clean his steamed-up glasses, Leach added one run in the partnership.
But it was the most crucial run of his life and the one that actually ensured Australia would not retain the Ashes in Leeds.
It took the scores level so that even if Stokes had been dismissed by Pat Cummins next ball and not spanked the match-winning runs through the covers, England would have at least earned a tie and headed across the Pennines to Old Trafford 1-0 down with two Tests to play.
If Stokes is now nailed on for Sports Personality of the Year, then surely Leach must be a contender for Spectacle Wearer of the Year. If not, then he still has free glasses for life…
The fact that England began their run chase with an outside chance owed a lot to their bowling as well, either side of their batsmen getting rolled in 27.5 overs in a first dig deemed "inexcusable" by Stuart Broad.
There were reminders of Willis' scintillating bowling spell on the ground in 1981 when we witnessed another 8-43 - expect those numbers were the story of Australia's batting collapse from 136-2.
Having been inserted on a drizzly day one and lost Harris and Usman Khawaja early, Australia had progressed briskly through David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne's 111-run salvo and left many wondering whether Root had made a mess of the toss.
But Jofra Archer came to the fore again. At Lord's he had menaced Australia and hit helmets with short, fast balls but in Leeds he shredded them with slower, full deliveries - a deliberate ploy he later confirmed and not due to any fatigue from the previous Test.
The quick bagged 6-45, starting with when he nicked off Warner, who that night compared the Test newbie to Dale Steyn.
Second innings-wise, though, and it was the Stokes show. A remarkable spell, spread over Friday night and Saturday morning, saw him bowl 24.2 overs on the reel, partly due to Archer hobbling off with cramp but also because Root could not have prised the ball out his hand had he tried.
Innings figures of 3-56 don't immediately leap out but he was magnificent, removing Head, Matthew Wade and Cummins. He also had Labuschagne dropped twice, while when he did have the batsman pouched safely, the wicket was chalked off with Stokes having overstepped.
If those chances had led to Labuschagne's wicket, it would have made England's run chase a lot easier - but probably nowhere near as exciting.
There have been other Headingley heroics, of course: Mark Butcher's 173 against Australia in 2001 - a video of which was shown in the build-up to Sunday's game and made you really believe one of the current crop could do something similar - and Graham Gooch's 154 against West Indies in 1991.
But Butcher's knock earned England only a consolation win and Gooch's efforts against an attack comprising Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Courtney Walsh and Malcolm Marshall ultimately came in a series that was drawn.
Botham's century turned the Ashes on its head and Australia never really recovered. And even though this time around the shell-shocked tourists should be boosted by the return of Steve Smith from his concussion break for the next Test, it has a similar feel to 1981.
It was Botham's Ashes and now it's Stokes' Ashes. The only thing he is missing is a cigar. Then he really would be Beefy.
Watch day one of the fourth Ashes Test live on Sky Sports The Ashes and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Wednesday, September 4.
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