The pulsating end to the third cricket Test in Headingley on Sunday night left plenty of Bathurstians bleary-eyed on Monday morning and many more shaking their heads over yet another miraculous sporting finish.

England had no right to win the match after being bundled out for just 67 in the first innings and falling to nine down in the second still more than 70 runs in arrears.

But, for the second time this English summer, it was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Ben Stokes - the New Zealand-born son of a former New Zealand rugby league representative - had already saved his adopted England in the World Cup final just a little over a month ago and here he was repeating those heroics on the Ashes stage.

His batting was far from chanceless but the sheer audacity of his strokeplay and his mastery in manipulating the field and strike was breathtaking.

For those of a certain age, the similarities to another Headingley Test 38 years ago were as stark as they were painful.

On that occasion it was Sir Ian Botham who, not for the first time and not for the last, put the Australians to the sword with an unbeaten 149 to lead his team to a remarkable victory after following on in the second innings.

If anything, though, Stokes' performance on Sunday possibly even better.

In 1981, even after Botham's incredible innings, England would not have won if not for Bob Willis' career-best 8-43 in the Australians' second innings. On Sunday, Stokes was a one-man band.

As Australia's decision makers felt the pressure of being expected to win, he enjoyed the freedom of having nothing to lose.

And it all added up to the sort of theatre that only sport can create.

If anyone struggled to understand Australia's apparent obsession with sport, the reasons were there for all to see on Sunday night.

There were more twists and turns than the most carefully crafted thriller and tension that could felt through the television screen, half a world away.

At the end, there was the victor and the vanquished - yet no one blood was spilled and all the combatants will live to fight another day.

To paraphrase our PM, how good is Ben Stokes? How good is cricket?

And how good is sport?