Phenomenal with the ball and positive with the bat… Chris Woakes is a fabulous all-round cricketer

When I saw Chris Woakes batting with England still needing 80 runs and only four wickets to stand, I immediately thought: this is not over.

Australia were top at the time, but Woakes is a fantastic all-round cricketer, one who can play positively without being enthusiastic and he changed the momentum of the game again.

Yes, he swayed and backed off a bit, but I don’t mind the lower order playing some shots as it can throw the opponent off guard.

Crucially, he also showed he had learned from his mistake in the first innings when he fatally hooked Mitchell Starc on the largest boundary on the ground, despite several fielders being placed there, by moving to the outside of the ball and to repel them. singles.

Everything about that 59-run seventh-wicket partnership with Harry Brook was basically perfect.

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Likewise, this match showed that England have a bowling unit – Woakes is very much ahead – who can secure 20 wickets in the right circumstances.

The performances from Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and Woakes to sack Australia on the third night were phenomenal.

Sunday would always be nervous, but when Ben Stokes turned to me at the coin toss and said “we’ll have a bowl,” he would have taken a 250 chase on a day four roll.

No one knows better than him how difficult it is to protect a target on this ground because of what he did here in the Ashes four years ago and what England did here against New Zealand last year.

Using Moeen Ali as a wild card at number three was not a successful move for Moeen, but it was for Brook and the team.

What we saw was Brook become that positive, attacking player again, not the reckless one we saw at Lord’s.

There he seemed to believe the hype that if you get a license you can go out and play any cricket shot despite some fielders being placed on the boundary.

Here he showed that he had learned a lesson and had his pace completely right. Scoring 75 off 93 balls isn’t exactly blocking.

The 2-1 scoreline is a pretty accurate reflection of how the series turned out.

England have missed some huge opportunities and today Australia will feel the boot is on the other side.

Because when Wood joined Stokes at the crease on day two, the Australians were dominant, leading by 121 points, missing their chance to seize the moment.

They will leave Leeds asking: how did we lose? Just as England did in the previous two games. Likewise, 3-0 would not have been a fair representation of events.

Yes, Australia lost three important pitches and had the worst conditions, but it was much tighter than that and this result makes it wonderful to go to Old Trafford.

England will have to make a decision about Jonny Bairstow and their wicketkeeper-batsman situation before then.

It will be tricky as Bairstow has been crucial for this side for the past 14 months, but he now seems to lack confidence in the gloves and that has carried over into his batting.

He seems a bit tense and when a batsman gets like that the bottom hand can take over. Two balls before dragging on, he escaped a similar fate, and Ben Foakes looms in the background.

The problem with thinking about a change behind the stumps is that England now need five bowlers as Stokes plays as a specialist batsman, and you need not only a spinner but real pacers at Old Trafford.

Overall, the combination of Moeen and Wood used here is what you would want in Manchester for the bounce on offer.

And what this three-wicket win showed was that England are a better side when they play on a pitch with a little bit in it.

In the first few tests it felt like they were a bit wary of the Australian seam attack and not backing their own attack.

Now if they prepare another surface with a bit of grass on it and some pace and carry, Australia will have to decide whether to stick with David Warner.

Stuart Broad has got him off twice this week and with him now out for nine days there is a good chance England will turn to Broad again, despite pre-series suggestions that their seamen would rotate.

Every session from now on feels like a must-win for England and there’s no point resting anyone for the Oval as the Ashes might be gone.

If it was a three day gap I’d be wary of going in with Broad, but England need to play their best side available.

Broad has bowled beautifully over the last month, England are a poorer side without him and at a place like Old Trafford I would like to have my best available bowler.

And if Ollie Robinson has a problem, I’d bring Jimmy Anderson in and give him a pitch – like this one in Leeds – where he could be effective.

There was carry and nip, and English pitches like this make cricket.

Look how much the audience enjoyed this week. If a game is over in four days, so be it. It’s better for everyone – spinners, fast bowlers, slipfielders and batters.

People think that a good pitch equals a flat pitch. It doesn’t. A good throw ensures an even match between bat and ball.

Look at the scores in the game. All between 224-263. That’s where you want Test Cricket to be.

Not only were the audience grateful, they got just the right mood despite the great passions behind Lord’s.

The Yorkshire people know their cricket, they laughed with the Australians, sang some good songs but didn’t go over the line, and that kind of atmosphere is perfect for cricket.

We had greats of the sport like AB de Villiers and Sachin Tendulkar tweeting that they were glued to another Ashes game.

And whatever the result is from here, that’s all you can ask for from a summer between England and Australia.

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