England defy odds in dramatic draw

CARDIFF,  (Reuters) – England last pair Jimmy  Anderson and Monty Panesar proved their country’s unlikely  batting heroes when the hosts defied the rules of probability by  drawing the first Ashes test against Australia yesterday.

Australia, who had dominated the match in all departments  for the first four days, were moving inexorably to what appeared  an inevitable 1-0 lead in the five-match series as the England  batsmen found new ways to gift their wickets.

Paul Collingwood was the exception, fighting a lone battle  for the best part of six hours. But when he was caught for 74  England still needed six runs to make Australia bat again with a  minimum 11.3 overs left in the day’s play.

Panesar was greeted with the huge cheer he gets whenever he  chases a ball in the field or comes out to bat as England’s last  man. Unlike his fielding, however, Panesar can bat and he played  resolutely straight to everything the Australian bowlers could  hurl at him.

“I was pretty nervous but Jimmy and I were communicating  pretty well,” Panesar told a news conference.

“We just said to each other play the ball straight and watch  the ball hard. Now we’re sitting here with a draw.”

Two boundaries to Anderson off aggressive paceman Peter  Siddle persuaded Australia captain Ricky Ponting to bring on  occasional off-spinner Marcus North to accompany the specialist  Nathan Hauritz.

Ponting defended his decision by saying both men spun the  ball away from the left-handers and would get their overs  finished quickly in the final hour.

But England captain Andrew Strauss said he thought left-arm  paceman Mitchell Johnson would have been a better choice and  Anderson did not conceal his relief at facing North rather than  a fast bowler.

“Certainly when Marcus North came on we thought we had a  great chance,” he said.

PONTING ANGER

The England dressing room also realised belatedly that  Anderson and Panesar needed to bat out the final hour, not just  the minimum overs remaining, and sent out the 12th man then the  physiotherapist ostensibly to convey the message to the batsmen.

Their presence while drinks were taken and gloves were  changed also ate up time, to the obvious anger of Ponting, his  team and the Australian supporters in the capacity crowd.

“They can play any way they want to play,” Ponting said. “We  came to play within the rules and in the spirit of the game.”

“Our intentions were good,” Strauss responded. “We weren’t  out there to waste a huge amount of time. Those two were playing  pretty well, the situation was that Australia didn’t take the  final wicket.”

The result was an unexpected bonus for England going into  the second test starting at Lord’s on Thursday where Australia  have not lost since 1934.

“I thought our bowlers worked exceptionally hard on a  surface that offered nothing. We had our chance with Panesar and  Anderson out there but unfortunately we weren’t good enough to  finish it off,” Ponting said.

Strauss said he had not thought England would grab a draw  against all the odds until there were only three overs left.

“We always thought we were probably a wicket or two too many  down to expect to draw the game. When those two guys got in it  was only with 18 balls to go that we thought that we have  actually got a sniff here.

“All credit to them because they withheld a hell of a lot of  pressure there. It was just horrible watching from the dressing  room to be honest.

“Our biggest fear was Monty getting himself run out. I have  to say. He’s quite keen to get that quick single.

“There was just relief that we got through the game and  we’re it’s still nil-all going into the Lord’s test match.”