There might have been a crucial meeting of world leaders, Brexit and a kerfuffle about the BBC licence fee to fret about. But Ben Stokes’s batting heroics have given Britain’s newspapers the perfect bank holiday Monday front page.
Every front page published south of the border is emblazoned with a picture of England’s brilliant allrounder celebrating after hitting the winning runs at Headingley in a match that evoked the legendary exploits of Ian Botham and Bob Willis at the same ground 38 years ago.
The Times and the Telegraph both decided it was such a momentous occasion that it was worth doing away with the usual front page conventions and promotions.
The Times 26/8/2019
— The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) August 25, 2019
Ben Stokes celebrates hitting the winning runs to win the 3rd Specsavers Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Headingley on Aug. 25, 2019 in Leeds. Photo : Gareth Copley/Getty Images#thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday #theashes #gettyimages @thetimes pic.twitter.com/3FPY5ncl4H
Both lay the masthead and headline on top of the picture with the Times declaring “Stokes leads England to epic Ashes comeback” and the Telegraph sufficing with “Howzat!”. The latter’s veteran cricket writer, Scyld Berry, says Stokes’s knock was the greatest ever played by an Englishman.
Monday's Daily Telegraph front page: 'NHS cancels patients 10 times in row' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/k431HGhmt7
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 25, 2019
There is more historic reference points in the Guardian which has a similar moment-of-triumph picture above a headline that reads: “Heroic Stokes inspires thrilling Test win”. In the sports section, a team of writers all rhapsodise about an innings that Andy Bull describes “the best anyone has played for England since Ian Botham overturned odds of 500-1 when he made his unbeaten 149 at this very same ground back in 1981”.
Some sober judges reckoned it was even better, he writes, as history begins to be written about a stunning day of Test cricket.
The Sun splashes on the cricket with the headline “Go urn, my son” a fitting pun on the fact that Stokes has single-handedly kept the Ashes battle alive.
Tomorrow's front page: Ben Stokes led England to an epic Ashes comeback with one of the greatest innings in Test history https://t.co/1xONNHKzKf pic.twitter.com/IpXzR0lhsf
— The Sun (@TheSun) August 25, 2019
The Independent marks the win with a picture showing Stokes with his arms raised in triumph in a shot that also shows the despair on the face of Australian bowler Pat Cummins. Their lead underneath the picture is “PM: BBC must give free licences to over-75s”.
The licence fee story is also the lead in the Mirror, which has campaigned hard on the issue. Its headline reads “I won’t pay for free TV”. The front includes a smaller picture of Stokes, a columnist on the paper, with a headline that none of its rivals were able to match: “Mirror man Ben saves Ashes”.
The combination of England’s outrageous defeat of Australia and the bank holiday heatwave was too much for the editors of the Daily Mail and the Daily Star to resist.
Monday’s @DailyMailUK #MailFrontPages pic.twitter.com/h1aYCavxdu
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) August 25, 2019
“Land of heat and glory,” says the Mail’s splash headline under the obligatory Stokes celebration picture, while the Star reckons that its “Hottest bank hols as Ashes catch fire”.
The FT stays cool in the heat of the Ashes battle and notes merely that “Stokes secures England win”.
Just published: front page of the Financial Times UK edition Monday August 26 https://t.co/nvKRq4Vvr4 pic.twitter.com/9hJPlplHHW
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) August 25, 2019
The dramatic climax to the match came too late for most Australian newspapers but Rupert Murdoch’s broadsheet, The Australian, stayed up late to get the story on to the front of its final edition. Stokes is pictured flogging another ball to the boundary under a headline guaranteed to send shivers down the spine of every true blue Aussie: “Stokes revives the ghost of Botham”.
Its esteemed cricket writer, Gideon Haigh, says that with the long format of the game under pressure from shorter editions, the match was a referendum on Test cricket that had no loser.
Great effort by @Australian to get the cricket in its last edition. But ‘Ghost of Botham’ headline guaranteed to send shivers down Aussie spines pic.twitter.com/dvAdzAahV8
— Martin Farrer (@MartinFarrer) August 26, 2019
Back in the northern hemisphere, Stokes is conspicuous by his absence on front pages in Scotland where the Daily Record leads with a story about a teenage serial sex offender and the Scotsman goes with “Johnson tells Trump: ‘Trade war risks global recession’”.
