Yet again, Headingley cooked up some magic to get the England-India series off to a fitting start after months of anticipation.
The match brewed and then boiled perfectly with background narratives bubbling nicely alongside the on-pitch action. There was the arrival of India’s new era on day one, England v Bumrah on day two, Harry Brook on home turf on day three, dropped catches, fast-scoring and tails blown away filled in between. And then, the crescendo on day five as the wickets started to fall amidst the drizzle while the runs ticked down agonizingly closer towards England’s target.
While it’s the kind of balls-to-the-wall chase that Bazball makes feel not just possible but probable, a significant amount of credit has to go to the ground itself.
Headingley has been the scene of some of the greatest McCullum-Stokes triumphs over the last three years. It saw the culmination of its first series at the peak of Jonny Bairstow’s 2022 summer powers. Then there was the Ashes, Mark Wood at full tilt, Ben Stokes peppering the Western Terrace again and Chris Woakes walking off the field, bat over his shoulder grinning from ear to ear.
Beyond the England wins in front of a rowdy crowd in summer heat, those games were classics in themselves. The New Zealand game lasted well into the middle session of the fifth day, plenty of runs and enough in it for the bowlers, a perfect chase set up, while the Ashes three-wicket win needs no further elaboration. And even before England adopted their ‘never say die’ approach, which unarguably makes the matches they play better to watch regardless of where they play, Headingley had a habit of producing classics.
Since Ben Stokes took over as Test captain, England have chased 250+ in the fourth innings six times 💥#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/TakaXQwuPZ
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) June 25, 2025
It’s not just the obvious ones either, i.e. the two legendary Headingley’s of ‘19 and ‘81. There was the Shai Hope Test in 2017, when West Indies won deep in the evening gloom of day five. You had James Anderson in tears on the field after Sri Lanka sealed a win on the penultimate ball of the final over after conceding an 109-run first innings deficit. All of those were in the last 11 years. If you wanted to go further back, you’d find other miracles pulled off by the likes of Don Bradman and classics littered across the decades.
There’s something in the conditions that makes what elsewhere are outlier games par for the course in Leeds. It’s renowned run-scoring properties are in part a product of its slope, which runs from the Kirkstall Lane end to the Rugby Ground end, with part of the hill sloping down to third man. Combined with a fast outfield, it means edges and shorter deliveries can fly behind square for four. It also flattens out for the most part after a day or two, which has made the perfect partnership with England’s penchant for fourth-innings showboating. No ground in England since 2010 has a higher average runs per wicket in the fourth innings than Headingley (35.52), and it has two of the highest fourth-innings scores in that time period.
However, while its natural attributes favour run-scoring, there’s just enough to keep that balance in check. For one, the ball generally swings early in the match, especially when it’s overcast, another reason England have opted to bowl first the last three times they’ve won the toss at Headingley. Getting more into the nitty gritty, the bounce in the pitch also has enough to favour both wickets for seamers and run-scoring for batters. It’s got the fullest top-of-off length in England, which means bowlers have to go fuller or risk disappearing square, while pushing that length forward encourages the drive, bringing both runs and wickets.
In the first half of this Test, Jasprit Bumrah was the only India bowler to send more than half of his deliveries down in that fuller zone, and he reaped the rewards for it. In other words, both good bowling and batting is rewarded, allowing the best players to rise to the top throughout a Test match.
Nevertheless, despite the near-constant output of classics and the conditions to make them repeatable, Headingley will not host a men’s Ashes Test in 2027. It will, however, host the women’s Ashes Test – the first women’s Test match to be played there for 26 years. You could make an argument for Headingley missing out on a men’s Ashes Test looking at the historical precedent. It hosted games in both the last Ashes series off the back of a 10-year absence, while Ultilita Bowl, Chester-le-Street and Sophia Gardens – all in their own geographical corners – have three in their combined history.
But, with no Northern venues being allocated men’s Ashes Tests in two years' time, there is a significant case for Headingley to be the venue for the World Test Championship final in 2027. Aside from the optics of two – or even three – London Tests and none in the North, the cricket Headingley produces makes it the ideal place for the final showdown between the two best sides in the world. It will have to fend off competition from Old Trafford, perhaps the obvious host venue, with its state of the art facilities and easier travel links, but Manchester poses a steeper rain-risk than Headingley, and the joint-highest draw percentage of all Test grounds in England – only Durham has a lower draw percentage than Headingley.
Fears over the World Test Championship final ending in a draw or being a bore-fest go with the territory of deciding a two-year long competition entirely on one match. The best way to mitigate that, is to host it at the venue which most reliably produces Test match classics. Really, Headingley shouldn’t have any competition.
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