Ben Stokes: England have momentum in Ashes series after amazing Headingley win

The hero from Leeds believes the hosts are in the ascendency heading into the final two Tests of the series after squaring the series at 1-1

England's heroic matchwinner from Headingley Ben Stokes believes his side now have the upper hand in the Ashes series after keeping the urn from Australia's grasp in Leeds.

The Durham allrounder struck a mesmeric 135 not out to secure a one-wicket win and square the series at 1-1, putting on 76 for the 10th wicket with No.11 Jack Leach with some brave and spectacular hitting.

Both teams now head into the final two Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval with everything to play for, but Stokes feels the home team have the impetus to go on and regain the Ashes

"I think momentum is huge in sport, especially in a series like the Ashes," Stokes told Sky Sports. "Australia will have gone through a lot of emotions throughout that game, as we did as well.

"I'm 100 per cent sure that when Stuart Broad got out, they thought that they would be getting the Ashes back at the end of the day.

"We went through ups and downs of emotions throughout that game and we came away with a win so we go to Manchester with that confidence, and also with the confidence of knowing that we can win from anywhere.

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"Obviously it was an amazing game to be a part of and it has got us back into the series. But you can't live off what you've done in the past; it's all about what you can do in the here and now."

The magnitude of England's success was enhanced by their second innings effort at Headingley when they were rolled for just 67 on day two - with Stokes' dismissal among a series of woeful shots played by their befuddled batsmen.

Stokes, 28, led attempts to restrict Australia's lead and bowled 24 overs on the bounce from the rugby stand end to finish with stand-out figures of 3-56.

"You have to get over things like that (67 all out) pretty quickly - the turnaround between innings is very quick," he added.

"We had to put our minds back on to bowling and knowing we still had a chance of restricting Australia and not giving ourselves too many runs to chase.

"Stuart Broad said before we walked out that we need to bowl at these guys like we are defending 170, so we had to get the 67 out of our head quite quickly and go and perform with the ball."

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