"He had that look in his eye" - Joe Root narrates 'injury-ridden' Ben Stokes' role in dramatic SCG draw
England captain Joe Root has narrated how ace all-rounder Ben Stokes braved his injury to play a crucial knock and help his side salvage a dramatic draw in the fourth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Incidentally, Stokes suffered a side injury while bowling on Day 2 of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide that restricted him from bowling in Australia's second innings.
Root believes Stokes' performances will motivate the other guys ahead of the next match.
We haven't seen the best of Ben Stokes this series, but we've seen in Sydney what a warrior he is. Injury has not stopped him from playing two gutsy innings on a testing track. #Ashes
Addressing a virtual press conference, Joe Root said:
"It seemed to be like refocusing when he came into bat. I don't know you could see he had that look in his eye which you've seen a couple of times before when he's been playing Test cricket and he looked very much engaged in what was going on."
Root added:
"It is obviously difficult when you see one of your most influential players walk off the field as he did clearly in a lot of pain and you know the rest of the seamers and Jack [Leach] had to pull up more workload which you don't plan for going into the game.
"There was a wholehearted effort in many respects from Ben and from the rest of the guys. His performance with the bat was more like Ben Stokes near his best which is really exciting thing to see going into the last game."
Ben Stokes produced two fighting half-centuries to lift England's batting alongside Jonny Bairstow after flop shows in the last three matches.
The New Zealand-born all-rounder has three days to recover and be available for selection for the final showdown in Hobart.
"It was a dark day at the end of the last Test" - Joe Root
#AUSvENG 
Courage and fight 🦁🦁🦁
A brilliant Test match ends in a draw.
Scorecard: ms.spr.ly/6014ZmYJI
#Ashes | 🇦🇺 #AUSvENG 🇦🇺 https://t.co/FdIjaFRgOL
England lost the plot once again after Zak Crawley's fighting 77-run knock. They lost a couple of wickets at regular intervals before Ben Stokes (60) and Jonny Bairstow (41) stood tall yet again to eat up quite a few deliveries.
An injury-ridden Jos Buttler also used up 38 balls for his 11. Australia had their tail-up with the new ball in hand but Jack Leach and Stuart Broad survived well to take the game deep.
Leach edged Steve Smith to slip with 12 balls remaining, only for Broad to defend an over from Nathan Lyon before James Anderson resisted Smith to put curtains on the gripping Test match.
Joe Root highlighted that this week's fight will help them ahead of the next tie.
"We never make it easy for ourselves, do we?" said Root.
"Before this match, I spoke about putting some pride back into English cricket. The fight, desire and character shown in the five days has done that in a small way.
"It was a dark day at the end of the last Test. It would have been very easy to roll over for the last two. When you find yourself out of the series, it's really important that you front up. Everyone has done that this week," Root concluded.
The final Ashes Test will commence on January 14 in Hobart.