The Twelfth Man 2020

The miracle of Headingley... again As if to confound the old saying ‘lightning never strikes the same place twice’ the Third Ashes Test at Headingley in 2019 did just that; England turning a seemingly impossible situation into a nerve-jangling finish to rival that of 1981. That legendary win almost 40 years ago spawned a book by Rob Steen and Alastair McLellan devoted entirely to it. So this time we thought it deserved a full feature in The Twelfth Man . Mick Pope and Dave Whttingham tell us ‘I was there…’ to witness both lightning strikes. Paul Dyson with another ‘I was there…’ gives a somewhat different perspective by saying the 1981 match was tedi- ously dull for three of the five days. Chris Barron explains how, despite attending the first three days in both matches, ‘I wasn’t there…’ and how he missed the climaxes on both occasions. Finally, we provide a comparison, ‘81 vs 19’ to help decide which was the greater match ….argue amongst yourselves! 06 07 Photo courtesy of John Heald Photography