OLIVER HOLT: Sport is about escapism and this Ashes series is a brilliant rocket blasting us away

I walked out of Leeds city centre along the Leeds to Liverpool canal last week, past people sitting in the sunshine at waterside bars and on past the Victorian mills, new upmarket apartment blocks and pretty locks that chart part of the evolution of urban life in England.

A couple of miles along the canal, when you get to Armley Mills, you cross a bridge over the River Aire and cut up through a retail park with its KFC, Aldi and Abu Bakr Supermarket opposite on Kirkstall Road, towards Headingley, one of the great cathedrals of English cricket.

I lost my bearings at one point among the tight, terraced streets with metal security gates across their doors and an older man saw me through the window of a launderette and popped his head out of the door.

‘Are you going to the crick-eet?’ he said. I nodded. ‘Up there, along The Village Street, all the way to the end,’ he said. ‘You’ll see the stands.’

I found it easily enough from there and stopped for a bacon sandwich at a little cafe called Ugly Mugs opposite the ground. It was the second morning of the Test and Mark Wood and Chris Woakes walked past on their way in and people looked up from their cups of tea and their fry-ups and applauded them.

Cricket in England has faced charges of being much that is wrong with our society but this Ashes series is bring so much unity to the game that maybe it can be a driver for change

Sport is about escapism and this Ashes series has been cricket at its brilliant best so far

Australia could have wrapped up the Ashes, but England pulled the series back to 2-1 

Perhaps these are snapshots of a disappearing England, even snapshots of a disappearing game, but it has not felt like that in the past few weeks. Cricket seems to spend its life fighting charges of irrelevance, anachronism and exclusion, but since the beginning of the series at Edgbaston, its appeal has never felt more vibrant.

From the Second City to the capital and then up to the north, we have chased the boys of summer around the country this month in the breathlessly happy pursuit of the most captivating cricket series many of us can remember.

The Third Test last week could have been an end to the journey but instead England’s unbearably tense win over Australia filled the tank back to the brim with gasoline and sent the roadshow rolling on to Manchester where it will resume next week with excitement at fever pitch.

The Australians lead 2-1 but without succumbing entirely to the beautiful insouciance of the philosophy that England captain Ben Stokes has occasionally espoused, the results have often appeared secondary to the magnificent, gut-churning, flawed, courageous, audacious sport that both teams have provided.

At its best, sport is about escape and we have to put what is happening in this series in context to appreciate the reasons it is gripping us so completely. There is an awful lot to escape from at the moment and this Ashes series is a rocket blasting us away from it.

That means inside the game as well as outside it. In the past couple of years, cricket in England has faced charges of being a receptacle for division and exclusion and prejudice and much that is wrong with our society and our mores.

At the same time, the debate about the future of Test cricket has intensified as the threat to it from T20 leagues that are springing up all over the world, from the USA to the Middle East, and which may soon claim a player’s time all year round, grows apace.

One Ashes series is not going to change all that and the truth remains that the racial make-up of the crowds at Edgbaston, Lord’s and Headingley has been overwhelmingly white. More, surely, could be done to involve British people with south Asian heritage in a game they love so passionately.

The Ashes won’t salve the sins visited on Azeem Rafiq (pictured) or wipe away the damning findings of last month’s report of the Indendent Commission for Equity in Cricket

The Ashes though could play a major part of the healing process in the game of cricket

Five cricket matches are not going to salve the sins that were visited on Azeem Rafiq or wipe away the damning findings of last month’s report of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket but maybe they can be part of a process of healing.

Maybe this series can be both an escape and a driver for change. It is bringing so much joy and so much unity and so much fervour to the game and to our communities that we have to hope at least that it can bring people together, not divide them.

There has been so much to cherish in this series already: Zak Crawley’s first ball boundary at Edgbaston, Joe Root’s breathtaking cameo of 46, the winning defiance of Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon when all seemed lost for the Australians.

The passionate debate about Jonny Bairstow’s stumping at Lord’s and whether it was smart cricket or cynical cricket, the sheer magnificence of Stokes’ belligerent 155 in England’s second innings that almost rescued the game and Wood’s startlingly quick bowling at Headingley that has turned the series back in England’s direction.

There has been much to cherish in the series as well as huge talking points like Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping at Lord’s in the second Test

I remember this, too, among all the uplifting moments that have happened in this series: I remember at Edgbaston how Stokes stuck with Moeen Ali when he was being battered around the ground by Travis Head.

I remember thinking that Stokes should take him off. But Stokes kept faith. And in the end, Head chipped a tame shot off Moeen’s bowling to Crawley at mid-on and Edgbaston erupted in joy and acclaimed Moeen and Stokes ran to congratulate him and looked happier with that dismissal than with any other before or since in this series.

They are all our boys of summer and as we follow them to Manchester next week with the belief that England can level the series and turn this into one of the greatest Ashes contests we have ever seen, sport’s power to unify makes us believe this kind of beauty can cure anything.

Tennis stars need to grow up 

It is easy to understand that tennis can be a lonely sport and that, at big tournaments in particular, players feel under intense pressure. But I still find it hard to watch the growing tendency among many of the leading men and women to berate publicly the people sitting in their box at tournaments like Wimbledon. 

Tennis can be a frustrating game but screaming abuse at your coach, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your dad or your mate because you just put a forehand into the net is not a good look. You’re a grown-up now so if you miss an overhead, own it. It’s your fault. Not your mum’s. 

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Sympathy for Azarenka 

I felt some sympathy for Victoria Azarenka after she was booed off Centre Court following her defeat to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Sunday night but I don’t understand why so many commentators seemed mystified by her treatment. 

Azarenka played her part in a brilliant match and respected Svitolina’s wish not to shake hands at the net. She did nothing wrong.

But whereas the crowds at Roland Garros last month booed Ukrainian players for refusing to shake hands with Russians and Belarussians, Wimbledon fans at least picked the right target. Azarenka is Belarussian. Her country is an ally of a country that has invaded Ukraine and has vowed its destruction. There is no personal animosity towards Azarenka but it is fairly obvious why the Centre Court crowd made its feelings known.

Victoria Azarenka was booed off by the crowd at Wimbledon on Sunday after the Belarusian respected Ukrainian Elina Svitolina’s wish not to shake hands at the net following their match

Wimbledon needs to play to a finish

It is hard to escape the feeling that Wimbledon has saddled itself with the worst of both worlds with its tortured scheduling this year. The tournament does not get an awful lot wrong but if it is going to embrace the idea of matches finishing late, it should also embrace the idea of making sure they are played to a finish.

That, surely, means starting Centre Court matches earlier than 1.30pm. The current situation, with spectators staying to close to 11pm and still not being able to see gripping contests through to their conclusion, satisfies no one. Not even the great God of television.

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Novak Djokovic’s fourth round match was played over two days due to the strict curfews