Ashes 2023: Despite Mitchell Starc's wicket, England defeats Australia in a thrilling match.

In this Ashes series, England has suffered two nail-biting losses, but at Headingley, they came close to handing one of their own.

Headingley provided another nail-biting match in cricket's oldest competition as England won by three wickets on Day 4 despite needing 224 runs to keep their hopes in the series alive.

No supporter of either team was ever permitted to become overconfident about their chances of winning before the opponent struck back in retaliation in a succession of nail-bitingly close contests, of which this was one more.

The balance of power was exchanged increasingly frantically from one side to the other during this rally, which was on par with any seen at Wimbledon over the previous week.

With Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett stealing runs at will in the opening exchanges, England's openers continued where they had left off the previous evening. But crucially for Australia, they nearly always kept England to singles instead of home runs thanks to careful fielding and a wet outfield that stopped the damage from becoming too severe.

Mitchell Starc might have won this Test on another day, in another universe. He achieved the first victory by getting rid of Duckett and proved to be a continual threat to English ambitions.

Moeen Ali was moved up to number three after England pressed the "Baz ball" button after Duckett left. Harry Brook was able to return to his preferred number five position when Starc flattened his leg stump for only five runs. From that position, Brook may have contributed more to England's success on Day 4 than any other player.

The pattern of play quickly became clear: whenever England appeared to have formed the winning partnership, Australia would respond with a wicket. Every seemingly successful down-the-line forehand was met by a ferocious cross-court backhand in response.

At lunch, England was just ahead; yes, Pat Cummins had taken out Joe Root once more, but with less than a hundred runs needed, six wickets remaining, and captain, leader, and Headingley hero Ben Stokes at the crease, they would undoubtedly win this match.

Starc, however, had other plans. After the break, he had Stokes strangled down the leg side in his first over, bringing the usually noisy Western Terrace to almost complete stillness. Jonny Bairstow was caught by him in his second over, pulling the ball onto his stumps for just five runs to end an extremely disappointing home Test for England's wicketkeeper.

With only four wickets left, England suddenly needed 80 runs to win the Ashes, and the dreaded scenario of a 5-0 home series loss began to creep into vision.

Harry Brook has had a somewhat dismal series after a quick start to Test cricket. He has been responsible for a few cheap dismissals when well set. Thankfully, he struck when England most needed him to.

However, he did require a companion to remain at the other end. Enter Chris Roger Woakes, who is always trustworthy and is quietly playing exceptionally well off to the side.

At Headingley, the scene of legendary batting displays by allrounders, Woakes had taken six crucial wickets over two innings with the ball, and now England sorely needed him to give them another.

His start did little to calm the English crowd's fears; he was lucky not to nick his first ball behind as he flashed and wildly missed with a drive to Starc. By the time he finished, though, the entire stadium was ecstatic and on its feet.

There were more anxious moments because the deadly Australian attack was trying to win the Ashes for the first time in more than 20 years on English soil, but Brook and Woakes progressively dragged the target down.

Todd Murphy was signed by Australia as a gamble, but Brook wasn't interested in seeing it pay off. With just 24 needed, he lasered a cut shot to the boundary for four runs, bringing the seventh wicket partnership up to 56, the highest partnership of the innings for England.

It was only natural to assume that there would be one more twist, and Starc would be the one to deliver it. In his haste to complete the task, Brook only succeeded in smearing the ball in the air, which Cummins still managed to grab despite being struck by the bowler who was also rushing in to claim it.

Starc had five wickets in the innings, Australia needed only three more, and those 24 runs needed were now twice as intimidating as they had been just minutes earlier. Suddenly, things were looking grim for England once more.

However, this was Mark Wood's Test; hampered by injury, he had been making up time in Leeds over the previous several days, and he was obviously not in the mood to let this one slip away.

He extravagantly hooked Cummins for six into the Football Stand when 18 runs were needed, setting off a shout from the crowd that was equaled an over later when he brilliantly blasted Starc for four through the covers.

Starc had thrown all he had at him when he hit the ball to the fence, deflecting a 92 mph delivery that had been aiming directly at his stumps. Australia had suffered the fatal blow, and six deliveries later, with the scores tied, Woakes scored the go-ahead runs for four more.

In this series, England has suffered two nail-biting losses, but they nearly managed to hand out one of their own here. A intriguing series is still going strong and seems to be growing more and more engaging. Hello from Manchester.