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This time, England cannot simply place all trust in their grimacing goliath of a captain.

Ben Stokes, already suffering with both knee and gluteal injuries, has done more than enough to dig his mercurial team out of the mire when half-fit at best. Twice in a week he has conjured the unlikeliest flourishes to keep the urn within reach, first with his mesmerising 155 at Lord’s and then a free-swinging 80 to rekindle hope here at Headingley just when all looked lost.

England’s batsmen must share responsibility in their run chase at Headingley. They can’t leave all the work to skipper Ben Stokes. The team effort must start with openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley (inset).Credit: Getty

Now it is imperative that the top order delivers. All series Zak Crawley has tended to give his wicket away cheaply after playing himself in, while Ben Duckett’s form has fluctuated, with his 98 and 83 at the home of cricket bookended by two lazy dismissals at Edgbaston and another in Leeds.

It is this maddening pattern which, when combined with the recent brain fades by Harry Brook and Joe Root, have laid a path for Stokes to embark on his one-man bailout mission.

Captivating they might be, but Stokes’s pieces of late heroism are far too precarious to be sustained.

Two in five days: this was preposterous enough. To expect a third would be plain presumptuous.

Even Moeen Ali, while lost in admiration at how Stokes sparked England from 5-87 to 237 all out, has acknowledged as much.

“It’s the situation more than anything,” he said. “Ben loves those situations, he thrives off them. But we can’t rely on him all the time.

“We do have very good players, dangerous players who we just need to come to the party as well. Ben’s playing brilliantly, but there are runs out there for other players.”

Crawley started auspiciously under the soft evening sunlight on day three of the third Test, punishing one straight delivery from Pat Cummins with a potent wristy blast through midwicket for four.

Ben loves those situations, he thrives off them. But we can’t rely on him all the time.

So, too, did Duckett, presenting the full face of the bat to dispatch an over-pitched ball straight back past the Australian captain for another boundary.

Such is the wonder of Bazball when it works: the capacity of England’s openers to make early and decisive inroads into a daunting target of 251.

At 27 for no wicket, they have already laid a promising platform. But they can ill afford even a momentary lapse into complacency.

While Brook and Root are both glorious technicians in their wildly different ways, both have shown alarming signs of flakiness.

The pressure will be on England’s batters – Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow – to produce the 224 more runs needed on the fourth day of the Headingley Test.Credit: Getty, Reuters

Brook’s readiness for the battle to come is a particular worry. His fondness for the pull shot indicates he is interpreting the Major League Baseball sticker on his bat a little too literally. Even Root’s normally serene thinking has been scrambled, with one wonderful century at Birmingham since giving way to a succession of uncharacteristic failures.

All of the opening quartet must rediscover their poise and self-assurance if England are not to rely on Stokes, their hobbling talisman, once more.

Recent evidence suggests it is within their capability. Take the scenes at this ground last summer, where Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope propelled England to hunt 296 against New Zealand for the loss of only three wickets.

What England would give for a mirror image of that performance now.

Stokes has served as the saviour often enough. Now it is up to the supporting cast to divert some of the pressure off their wounded leader.

Seldom can there have been such a vital day in the careers of Root, Brook and Bairstow in their home county. But can they respond to the stakes?

Only the foolhardy would ever doubt Root, who has not lost his standing as the finest England batsman of his time just because of a couple of rash decisions.

With Brook and Bairstow, the prospects are more difficult to discern.

Ben Stokes has been carrying injuries and his team in this Ashes series.Credit: Getty

Brook has looked uneasy amid the seething cauldron of Ashes hostilities.

Bairstow, of course, has all the weapons to act as England’s chaser extraordinaire, having discharged the role to perfection against both the Kiwis and India a year ago. But on his return from a serious leg injury, he gives little inkling that he is primed for an encore.

For once, it is the responsibility of the men at the top to take care of business, and not to consign Stokes to the heart of another nerve-shredder.

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