‘Although he’s superhuman, we don’t want to be reliant on Ben’ – Chris Woakes urges batters to do well on Day 4 of Headingley Test

Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes. (Photo Source: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Though rain kept pouring for almost six hours on Day 3 of the third Ashes Test at Headingley, Leeds, the two sides managed to put up a good show in their one session. Travis Head’s masterclass helped Australia get to a decent score before the visitors were eventually bundled out for 224 runs in their second innings, thereby setting up a 251-run target for the hosts to win.

Ahead of the fourth day of the ongoing Test, England require 224 runs to win as their opening batters Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley stood strong on Day 3 to stitch up a 27-run stand. The duo gave a solid start to the chase as England now have their eyes on the first victory in this year’s Ashes 2023.

English skipper Ben Stokes has been in great form this series and has proved his worth with the bat. But, at the same time, there haven’t been many contributions from other batters in the ongoing game, and only Stokes rose to the occasion in the Lord’s Test.

Headingley is close to Stokes’ heart as he pulled off a heist in the 2019 Test and took his side to a thrilling one-wicket win. But pacer Chris Woakes believes that the red-ball skipper can not be handed over all the burden, every time, and the team must not rely on him to get the job done, implying that other players need to pull their socks in the ongoing game.

“It would be nice to do it a little bit easier. We don’t want to be reliant on Ben all the time. Although we do realise he’s superhuman, he can’t do it every time. Across the board, from 1 to 11, we’ve got to put a good shift in and try and get us over the line. It’s an opportunity to do something special. There is more excitement than nerves. We are excited at the thought of chasing down a score, winning the Test, and keeping ourselves in the series,” Woakes was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

It’s an exciting day for both teams: Woakes

England have excelled at chasing under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s ‘Bazball’ era. The English side successfully chased down 250+ totals on four occasions last summer at home and made the chase look like a cakewalk. Though they have a similar target this time around, Woakes, however, was hesitant to immediately rule the visitors out of the competition and expects a competitive Day 4.

“We know we can chase scores as a team. It suits us. This team is always looking to be the aggressor and put a foot forward. But the scores haven’t been overly high in this game so you don’t just walk into it thinking it’s going to be a doddle. We’re going to have to play well. Australia will be thinking they are 10 wickets away from winning an Ashes series in England as well, so it’s an exciting day for both teams,” he added.