Starting from the top with arguably the greatest player to have ever picked up a cricket bat – Sir Donald Bradman, who had a love affair with Headingley.

The Don etched himself into cricketing folklore in 1930 when he made 309 not out on the first day of the third Test, increasing it to 334 the next day to break a record which had stood since 1903.

Just for good measure, the boy from Bowral hit another triple century (304) at Leeds in 1934 in what affectionately became known as Bradman's Test.

Fast forward four years and Bradman caressed another ton there in an 'away' win described by the champion Aussie as the best Test he'd ever played in.

A decade later, a teenage Illingworth was captivated, like thousands of others in the crowd, as Bradman stroked a masterful 173 not out at Leeds in 1948, his last Test century not far shy of his 40th birthday – and his fourth in six innings' at the ground – as the tourists successfully chased a then world-record score of 404.

Several other Aussies have had tour-de-force games at LS6, including Allan Border and latter-day players Steve Waugh and – whisper it quietly – Ricky Ponting, who has hammered two centuries at the ground in 2001 and 1997.

But while many of a green and gold persuasion insist Leeds is one of their lucky grounds – probably with big victories by an innings and more at the forefront of their minds in series' wins in 1993 and 97 – history paints a slightly different picture.

The overall Ashes record at Headingley stands at eight wins for Australia, seven for England with eight matches drawn since their first meeting way back in June 1899.

And while England's first victory didn't arrive until 1956 when Bradford-born Jim Laker plundered 11 wickets – the "dress rehearsal" to his magic haul of 19 in the next Test at Old Trafford – in tandem with Tony Locke as they skittled the Aussies, a Headingley home win has often been the precursor to a series victory for England, who did exactly that in '56, 1972, 1977, 1981 and 1985.

It was former Test skipper Illingworth who successfully retained the Ashes for England in 1972 after victory down under in his finest hour in 1970-1, orchestrating a famous if controversial victory over the old enemy at Leeds in the process.

But his first Ashes memory dates back to one sultry day in 1948 when Bradman had the crowd enthralled.

Illingworth said: "I remember two major things. It was really hot and I was sat where the old winter shed used to be in a temporary stand and it was 80 degrees and I also remember going into the nets – I was about 16 and on Yorkshire's books – the day after the Test match and looked at the pitch and I've never seen wicket-ends like it.

"Headingley wasn't hard like it is now, and the footholes were a few feet deep all over the place and you couldn't stand up to bowl, honestly.

"It was incredible; it went from two or three feet in front of the popping crease to two or three feet behind. How someone didn't get injured in those, I couldn't believe...

"But I do remember Bradman. How I'd describe him is that he was an on-side player in an off-side era. He used to score quickly as he'd shuffle across and hit everything off-stump around through mid-wicket.

"He was getting ones and twos all the time and within two minutes he'd have 30 on the board. He was a marvellous player."

The Aussies held sway at Headingley in '48 – and in the series – but eight years later, England ran the show or rather Laker, who once played in the Bradford League for Saltaire, and Lock did.

They produced the stuff of Aussie nightmares on a turning wicket, as the hosts won by a massive innings and 42 runs and ultimately reclaimed the Ashes in a 2-1 verdict.

It was an express train who helped yield victory for England in 1956 and a home boy at that in fiery Fred Trueman, who took 11 wickets in the match in a seven-wicket success. Yet it was the Aussies – led by the incomparable Richie Benaud – who prevailed in the series 2-1.

But famously, it was sedate medium pace which brought Trueman's success on another unpredictable wicket. Illingworth recalls: "Obviously, there was '56, but I remember '61 more to be honest.

"I remember it being a slow old pitch and the top just went a little bit and Fred just bowled medium-paced off-cutters and didn't bowl quick.
"He also once did that for Yorkshire at Swansea and he could never then get it out of his system after that!"

The Aussies dominated in the 60s, until Illingworth masterminded victory over Bill Lawry's crop at the start of the next decade with the urn retained in a squared 2-2 series in '72 when the teak-tough Ian Chappell skippered the tourists. It was the Headingley match that decided the fate of the Ashes with the sub-standard nature of the pitch – put down to devastation of new turf by fusarium disease when heavy rain compelled lengthy protection under covers – allowing the spinners to achieve plenty of turn.

The big beneficiaries were Illingworth and Derek Underwood – the Kent bowler bagging ten match wickets – with the England captain also hitting a key 57 to help guild his earlier exploits in Australia.

Illingworth recounted: "1972 was when we had fusarium in the pitch. But they won the toss and were 70-odd for one at lunch and should have been in the box seat from there.

"In fact, I was the only bloke who made 50 in that match; I batted about four hours for it – I remember that!

"I got a few wickets with Deadly (Underwood) in the first innings and got a few in the second and Derek got five or six.

"It was a slow, nothing pitch. Not unlike the one at Cardiff this year really. But we'd had a load of water the week before the Test and a little bit had run down at Headingley and I don't think it was 100 per cent dried out."

With the Kerry Packer era taking its toll on the Aussies squad from the mid to late 70s onwards, England enjoyed a golden era at Headingley.

And every White Rose fan worth his salt will remember Geoffrey Boycott's 100th hundred in first-class cricket – and highest Ashes ton of 191 – amid delirious scenes on his home ground in a handsome win in Silver Jubilee year.

The cover drive that achieved the milestone is etched in thousands of memories, but the recollections from four years later when England staged a Lazarus-style recovery thanks to messrs Botham and Willis, which have been replayed ad infinitum by TV companies the world over, are the stuff of sheer legend.

But, despite the hullabaloo, Illingworth – with his captaincy 'hat' firmly on – has his own take on proceedings and remembers the spectacularly bereft stewardship of Kim Hughes more than anything else. He said: "To be fair, if anyone else but Kim Hughes had been Australia's captain, England would have lost that match out of sight.

"England had booked themselves out of their hotels and had given up. Ian Botham and Graham Dilley just came in and slogged and Botham did the same with Chilly (Chris Old).

"The ball was flying over the slips and in the air to mid-wicket and Hughes just kept a normal field!

"If he'd just put one or two men in what I call daft positions, such as third man coming in from the boundary and another mid-wicket man, they'd have holed out inside a few overs and the game would have been over.

"Even if it wasn't, the Aussies should still have won. They lost a Test match which it was impossible to lose really." Fans are salivating at the prospect of another juicy instalment in Headingley's Test story and Illingworth is no different as Leeds retakes its place in the Ashes sun.

He said: "I'm looking forward to it, Headingley needs to have permanent Tests. We've nothing really in the north of England, have we...

Every year we have two down at Lord's and The Oval – they are guaranteed – but we need one in the north.

"Yorkshire's also the biggest county and there's more cricket played here than anywhere else in England. Surely it warrants a permanent Test match up here?

"Leeds also has a big catchment area and people can come from Durham in an hour or so."