HOSTS SCALE NEW PEAK

Bazball's greatest day yet as England knock off mountainous target in Headingley classic

- By Mike Walters

OF ALL England's outrageous wins in the Bazball era, this was arguably the finest.

They were sniggering and carping Down when Ben Stokes put India into bat and they were 430-3 after 101 overs.

But after Ben Duckett played the innings of his life and England eased home by five wickets with 14 overs to spare in this first Test, it all went quiet. The Aussies are not laughing any more.

If 1981 was the miracle of Botham's Ashes and 2019 was the year Stokes was kissed by greatness, the Headingley classic of 2025 will go down as one of Test cricket's greatest counter-punching wins.

Can we play here every week? England have had some memorable victories in Leeds down the years, but Duckett's glorious onslaught made a mountainous target of 371 look like a couple of flights of stairs.