IF LOOKS COULD KILL

Skipper admits he couldn't bear to watch as team edged thriller

- MIKE WALTERS

BEN STOKES couldn't bear to watch as England scrambled home in another Ashes thriller at Headingley.

Eighth-wicket pair Chris Woakes and Mark Wood held their nerve to seal a gripping three-wicket win over Australia that keeps the series alive.

And Captain Fantastic Stokes admitted: "I walked about 2km in the dressing room in the last half hour."

Harry Brook's classy 75 and man-of-the-match Wood's nerveless swish of the tail clinched a worthy sequel to Stokes' miracle of 2019 at Leeds.

When their captain was out at 171-6, England needed 80 runs to win the third Test and stop the Aussies celebrating a first away Ashes series win since 2001.

But Brook, Woakes and Wood saw them home on 254-7.

And skipper Stokes revealed: "I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous at the end. We knew we needed to win this one to keep alive our hopes of winning the Ashes.