Stokes relives ‘great day’ of Headingley for first time

It has taken him seven months but on Sunday England all-rounder Ben Stokes relived his ‘miracle of Headingley’ for the first time, describing the Ashes nailbiter as a “great day”.

In August last year, Stokes smashed a breathtaking, undefeated 135 as England beat Australia in the third Test in Leeds by one wicket.

He and bespectacled last man Jack Leach put on 76 runs for the final wicket with Stokes hitting 74 in that partnership.

With no cricket to fill the live schedules as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, British broadcasters turned to their archives to replay the dramatic finale of the Test.

Sky TV offered fans the chance to see Stokes, captain Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes dial in via videolink in what the broadcaster described as a ‘watchalong’.

Staring at the screen with his fist clamped to his mouth, Stokes told fans what was going through his mind in the closing stages.

“It’s the first time I’ve watched it ball by ball. It’s always going to be great memories, isn’t it? One of the great days,” he said.

“Not just on the field, but the memories we’ll always have together as a group. The changing room is sacred as a cricketer and that evening, after this day’s play, was just sensational.

“We’ll always be able to look back on what happened that day and the memories we created.”

With his eyes fixed on the video, Stokes shouted “go, go, go” as his final six of the innings sailed over the head of Josh Hazlewood.

He then shrugged off an lbw appeal from off-spinner Nathan Lyon that would have handed the game to Australia had it been given.

Earlier in the innings, Australia skipper Tim Paine had wasted a review, a fact not lost on Root on Saturday.

“It’s the greatest decision of all time if you ask me. You want the world to swallow you up because you know you’ve made an absolute goober of a mistake. It’s a horrible feeling.”

Meanwhile, England’s World Cup winning ODI captain Eoin Morgan feels he and his wife are lucky to get the best out of isolation amid the COVID-19 pandemic as they are getting to spend time with their new-born.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK has increased to 79,885, with 9,892 deaths amid an ongoing national lockdown.

“It’s a very strange time for everybody at the moment. For us (him and his wife Tara Morgan), we have a new-born baby at home. He’s just three weeks old so we’ve been very lucky that we’re getting the best out of this bad situation. I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with him,” the 33-year-old 2019 World Cup winner told the www.kkr.in.

“Everybody’s goal is to hopefully not contract the (COVID-19) virus and then come out of the other side healthy, along with the rest of the family,” he said.

Asked is he is doing any household chores, Morgan said: “Well I’ve embraced cooking. I really enjoy cooking. Today, the barbeque is lit so we’ve prepared all the salads. I just need to marinade a little bit of the meat and then head outside and enjoy a bit of sun!

On being a father, the explosive southpaw added: “Yeah, it’s been amazing! It’s very difficult to describe until you go through it. Everybody says that, and we were waiting on his arrival to know if that was true. But it’s such a unique feeling that you don’t experience anywhere else. I must have changed almost thousands of nappies by now but I am loving it. Thoroughly enjoying it now.”

Morgan further said he is watching TV shows and reading books to beat the downtime.

“We’ve actually been busy with the baby a lot. But apart from that, I’ve watched a little bit of Netflix. I’ve just finished the TV series ‘Narcos’ based on Pablo Escobar, which I thought was good. Very graphic, but very good! And I’ve just started re-watching The Sopranos. It’s one of my favourite TV series of all time so it was a nice excuse to go back and watch it.

“I’ve also been reading a couple of books, and I do a little bit of workout. But I think people are becoming obsessed with exercise. I think it’s becoming their way of dealing with isolation. I’m not that inclined to be honest. I’ll do enough to keep my fitness up but as regards to enjoying the lockdown, fitness isn’t going to be a major part of it. We are doing anything to put a smile on our faces.”

Agencies