Leeds/UNI: Harry Brook's cavalier 75 off 93 balls saw England win the third Ashes Test against Australia by three wickets at Headingley here on Sunday.

With this win, England are trailing 1-2 in the series with two more Test matches to go.

Brook proved true to the expectations of captain Ben Stokes and brought England close to victory. England needed only 21 runs, when he returned to the pavilion.

Chris Woakes also played a crucial role in posting England past the winning mark with a plucky 32 off 47 balls with four boundaries. Both Brook and Woakes had close shaves during the chase, but did enough for England to make headlines across the globe.

For Australia, Headingley has been a nemesis as they committed mistakes and dropped catches that kept them away from snapping up the Ashes 3-0.

Sent in to bat, Australia scored 263 in the first innings, and England replied with 237 runs. In the second innings, Australia were bowled out for 224, leaving England to score 251 runs for victory.

The day started with England needing 226 runs, and the pendulum of fortunes swung from one side to the other, but the hosts ultimately had the last laugh.

Mitchell Starc produced a superb spell picking up five wickets as skipper Pat Cummins was off colour, especially when Australia had just 250 runs to defend against England which has been making mockery of chases in the last year or so.

Earlier in the day, Starc's quick strikes failed to trigger the collapse that Australia would have hoped for in the first session on day four. Ben Duckett, who was a thorn in Australia's side in the previous Test match, was trapped in front by Starc in the 10th over of the innings.

England sent Moeen Ali in at No.3 in a surprising move with Harry Brook, who played at the spot in the first innings, moving down below Joe Root to No.5.

The ploy didn't work for Moeen, though, as he was cleaned up by Starc for just five runs.

Joe Root joined a positive Zak Crawley and together the duo rebuilt for England. The partnership got off to a quick start, but just as Australia were being pushed out of the game, Mitchell Marsh struck with his medium pace.

The seamer found the edge of Crawley's bat and England had lost a third wicket before reaching three figures.

Brook walked in and played very cautiously, contrary to his usual style, but soon changed gears as he grew in confidence.

From 1 off 8 balls and 8 off 16 balls, the middle-order batsman smashed three boundaries in two overs to up the ante. Against the run of play, Australia found another breakthrough with Cummins sending back Root for 21, the batter nicking a short ball down the leg side to the wicketkeeper.

Despite the wicket close to lunch, Brook continued to go hard at the bowling and raced into the forties as Australia tried an over of spin before the break.

If England seemed on their way to an easy win at the lunch break, that quickly turned around after the break when Starc had Stokes and Jonny Bairstow dismissed in quick succession.

With England still a bit away, the two big blows had the hosts on the back foot, but Brook was in pristine touch and continued to go for his shots. The extra batting option down the order in Woakes came to their aid too as the duo built a quick partnership that frustrated the visitors.

Brook completed 1000 Test runs, becoming the fastest to the milestone in terms of balls faced, and reached his fifty with Woakes too starting to find his feet at the other end. The partnership was broken at a crucial juncture when Brook was dismissed by Starc, but England kept their nerves to seal the win.