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JE Sports Desk:  Ben Stokes once again entertained the Headingley crowd with a mouth-watering display of performance with the bat.

His inspirational innings of 80 runs helped England close in on Australia's first innings total of 263 as the deficit remained just 26 runs before they were bowled out for 237 runs on Day 2 of the third Ashes Test on Friday.

Stokes smashed six fours and five sixes to provide yet another masterclass, reminding everyone of his heroics at the same venue four years back during the Ashes series.

The hosts suffered massive blows after adding just 19 runs to their overnight score of 68/3 as Joe Root (19) and Jonny Bairstow (12) departed early on the second day of the match.

 

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It took a few more overs for the Aussies to put the hosts in a state of bother with 142/7 on the scoreboard before Mark Wood joined Ben Stokes at the crease.

Mark Wood after a remarkable performance with the ball on the opening day, continued his brilliance with a 24-run cameo in just eight balls and even influenced the skipper to take the attacking step in order to get closer to the Aussie total.

The all-rounder then shifted gears and put up a show with lofted shots all around the ground as the crowd became witness to yet another masterclass.

His entertaining innings came to an end in the 53rd over when he tried to hit consecutive maximums to Todd Murphy but only managed to find Steve Smith at the deep who made no mistake.

Stokes became Murphy's first wicket of the match and also the first of his Ashes career.

The England skipper had a remarkable game with the bat in the 2nd Test at Lord's as well where he played an innings to remember of 155 runs but just fell short to provide a win for the ages for the hosts.

 

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Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series with England looking to bounce back at the venue they love playing at.

"Having experienced something similar, you are able to look back at it. Did take a lot out of Headingley but unfortunately not to be. Definitely felt we had a shout, but Australia changed their plans, and that changed things for me. I had to take my risks to the longer side of the ground. Tough one to swallow, but it was a fantastic game. We are 2-0 down but we got 3 games to go. We have won 3-0 against Pakistan, 3-0 against NZ so we have the belief that we can do it," Stokes had said after the loss at Lord's.

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