England's Paul Collingwood reacts after losing his wicket for 74 on the fifth day of the first cricket test match between England and Australia in Cardiff, Wales, Sunday July 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
The first Ashes Test in Cardiff has ended in a thrilling draw, with England’s Paul Collingwood and tail-ender James Anderson leading the resistance.
Led by Paul Collingwood’s (74) knock of nearly six hours, every shot by Anderson and Panesar in the dying overs was greeted with enormous cheers from the Sophia Gardens crowd.
The 2005 edition of the Ashes included thrilling finishes in three of the matches and this year’s series has started off in equally dramatic fashion.
Panesar and Anderson survived the last 69 balls of the day and scored 19 runs in 40 minutes as England finished at 9-252 in their second innings after needing to score 239 at the start of the day to make Australia bat again.
The second Test starts at Lord’s on Thursday.
Anderson (21no) squeezed Peter Siddle for two boundaries in the seventh last over of play to ensure Australia had to bat again to the raptures of the crowd.
Then in the fourth last over, Panesar cut the ball for four off a Nathan Hauritz misfield and the game looked as good as saved.
But the appearance of England physiotherapist for no apparent reason in the final overs seemed to only add to skipper Ricky Ponting’s frustration.
In the end, Anderson and Panesar dealt with the last five nail-biting overs of spin from Hauritz (3-63) and Marcus North to the delight of the home fans who celebrated like it was a victory.
Australia had looked like they would wrap up proceedings fairly early in the day after having England at 5-102 at lunch.
But after the break, Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff (26) dug in with the pair lasting an hour and a half in all before Mitchell Johnson parted them by having the big allrounder caught in slips.
Stuart Broad (14) frustrated the opposition team for an hour and made Siddle angry enough to brush his shoulder against the left-hander as their paths crossed on the side of the pitch.
But Hauritz had a ball sneak through Broad’s defences and England again looked shot at 7-159.
But the home side showed real fight.
Siddle went in for the kill by peppering No.9 Graeme Swann (31) with short balls just before the tea break.
In an over that took ten minutes to complete, Siddle struck Swann three times and the batsman needed two trips out from the team physiotherapist.
Swann survived the assault either side of the break and the new ball at 7-200 was cheered out onto the ground by the Australian fans and introduced with 25 overs to go.
The tailender and Collingwood put on 62 runs in 81 minutes to bat England within sight of safety until Swann was trapped in front by Ben Hilfenhaus after attempting to pull a ball that was clearly too full for the shot.
Ponting’s pumping of the fists summed up Australia’s joy at the breakthrough.
With the tension mounting as the overs ticked by and England nearing the total to make Australia bat again, Collingwood almost ran himself out.
Backing up too far, he dived for his crease and a direct hit from Hauritz from point would have dismissed him.
With 12 overs remaining and England still needing six runs to make the tourists bat again, Collingwood’s defiant knock came to an end when he flashed at a Siddle ball that Mike Hussey caught at the second bite at gully.
The No.5′s head immediately fell in disbelief and he stood at his crease, shattered that he hadn’t finished off the job.
Fortunately for him, his teammates were up to the task.
Ponting was named man of the match for his 150 in Australia’s only innings of the match.
“I’m pretty disappointed we didn’t win it in the end,” he said.
“Over the five days we played well enough to have got a result.
“Once we lost the toss on that wicket we had to play exceptionally well to win the game, we knew that.
“Once they made 435, it was that little bit harder.
‘We gave ourselves a great opportunity, we got extremely close, stumbled at the last hurdle, but I’m very proud of what the guys achieved.
“Proved a lot to ourselves.”
Strauss said he was proud of his troops for surviving seven hours and 12 minutes in their second dig.
“There is a huge amount of relief in the dressing room and a lot of pride in how these guys played and Colly and Graeme Swann and Freddie (Flintoff), the second half of the order really stood up to be counted,” he said.
“There is a lot of pride in what they achieved but more than anything it was just relief that we got through the game and it is still nil-nil heading into the Lord’s Test match.”
Snapshot of day five of the first Ashes Test at Sophia Gardens.
SCORE – England 435 & 9-252; Australia 6(dec)-674
MAN OF THE MOMENT – Not surprisingly, the steely Paul Collingwood (74) was the backbone of England’s defiant second innings. He batted for just under six hours and showed great faith in his lower order teammates. He looked shattered when he was out with just under 12 overs to play. Fortunately for him, the last pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar were up to the task.
KEY MOMENT – Anderson hitting Peter Siddle for consecutive boundaries to ensure Australia would need to bat again if they had been able to remove the pesky final pairing. The shots brought the crowd to their feet and seemingly fuelled the belief that England could hang on.
STAT OF THE DAY – 245. The number of balls soaked up by Collingwood out of the 642 balls bowled during England’s second innings.
QUOTE OF THE DAY – “We came to play by the rules and the spirit of the game, it’s up to them to do what they want to do.” Australian captain Ricky Ponting questions England’s need to have their 12th man and physiotherapist come on the field with three overs to go in the nail-biting finale.
SUMMARY – The final day in Cardiff provided great theatre as Panesar and Anderson negotiated the final 69 balls to pull off a great escape for England. Ponting has then ensured plenty of ill feeling between the camps by accusing England of not playing in the spirit of the game. It was the latest incident in a drama-filled day where Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen had a heated exchange pre-match and Peter Siddle and Stuart Broad bumped shoulders during the game. Australia and England head to Lord’s with the series locked at 0-0 and everything to play for.
England 2nd innings
AJ Strauss* 17
AN Cook 6
RS Bopara 1
KP Pietersen 8
PD Collingwood 74
MJ Prior†14
A Flintoff 26
SCJ Broad 14
GP Swann 31
JM Anderson 21
MS Panesar 7
Extras 33
Bowling O M R W
MG Johnson 22 4 44 2
BW Hilfenhaus 15 3 47 3
PM Siddle 18 2 51 1
NM Hauritz 36.6 11 63 3
MJ Clarke 3 0 8 0
MJ North 7 4 14 0
SM Katich 3 0 7 0
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July 13th 2009 @ 4:00am
Benjamin Conkey said | July 13th 2009 @ 4:00am | Report comment
wow! That was tense. Who knew Panesar could bat like that? This is a huge psychological victory for England. Paul Collingwood was the perfect man for the situation. He is such a good player under pressure. There would have been a temptation to go for quick runs to get a lead, but he stuck to the game plan. Hauritz, Siddle and Hilfenhaus were great. johnson was disappointing. My only criticism of Punter was that he didn’t bring Hilfy back for an over towards the end. I was hoping a wicket was going to fall at 6.39pm..to give the Aussies one over to score 13! Bring on Lord’s.
July 13th 2009 @ 5:55am
tifosi said | July 13th 2009 @ 5:55am | Report comment
Australia did all the hard work then couldnt finish them off. Surprising to say the least.
July 13th 2009 @ 7:44am
spiro said | July 13th 2009 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Before lunch Paul Collingwood spooned a bat/pad catch that Simon Katich just failed to get a hand to. This is a very difficult position to field in but Katich might have snatched the catch, and a victory for Australia, if he’d reacted just a shade quicker. But on small matters like this Test victories turn on.
The important thing now is for Australia not to feel too despondent over letting a victory slip from their grasp. The scoresheet is clean for the Lords Test. Both teams start all over again. England will probably bring in Harmison, or they should, to give them some penetration in their attack.
The draw makes each victory that more important. Bring on Lords where Australia has not been beaten since 1934.
July 13th 2009 @ 8:31am
Justin said | July 13th 2009 @ 8:31am | Report comment
Spiro – I saw that opportunity but what stuck out like the proverbial was how far back he was standing. Generally he is within a yard of the pitch but last night he was back at least 3 yards and shadows were not an issue. I have no idea why he was back so far, Ponting on the other side was much closer.
July 13th 2009 @ 8:34am
Brett McKay said | July 13th 2009 @ 8:34am | Report comment
tense is one word Conks!! Brilliant effort from the England tail, but set up by Paul Collingwood. Is Collingwood England’s Steve Waugh, the man you’d want to bat for your life?? Determined, dogged, and a calm head when all around were losing theirs. What was Kevin Pietersen doing this time?? Moved around like the ball had spiders on it!!
Agree Conks on your thoughts re the bowling, and I’ll add that my only criticsm is that they probably persisted with staying aorund the wicket to the lefties a bit long. If anything, I would’ve liked them to chop and change a bit more.
Also, I thought Haddin might have had the corden too deep for the pace of the pitch. I noticed after lunch that he was taking the ball lower and lower, and even on the half-volley. Likewise, a few nicks fell short in the last session, so I thought he might have brought them forward to cater for the lack of carry.
Spiro, agree that Australia can’t treat this like a loss, though not doubt that’s how it will feel. Likewise, England will undoubtedly be heading to Lord’s as if they’re leading 1-0.
No obvious changes for Australia, but can’t see two spinners lasting for the Poms. I’d resist the temptation to bump Collingwood up to No.3 too, that would surely be a case of weakening a strength…
July 13th 2009 @ 9:03am
onside said | July 13th 2009 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Poor weather denied Australia victory.Test cricket has a problem.
It’s all very well for enthusiasts to wax lyrical about a tense draw,
but after four days , it was just that,a no result match that left all
players ,supporters and media alike to pick over the carcass.Test
cricket is about the journey.It has to be. It’s not result orientated.
This in itself is not a real problem unless the game needs young,
new,supporters . Sporting epics deserve resolution. Take last
weeks Wimbledon, In the final set Federer defeated Roddick 16-14.
There was a result ,and would have been even if it went to 32-30.
Test cricket needs to formulate a result to maintain relevance .
Real tension and satisfaction is about defining winners and loosers.
Test cricket does not offer that.
July 13th 2009 @ 9:09am
Brett McKay said | July 13th 2009 @ 9:09am | Report comment
So Onside, do you suggest some kind of “advantage set” where if a team is nine-down facing defeat the match just continues until we see a result?!?!
Anyone who didn’t see the last day, and particularly the last session, of this Test as anything other than exciting and tense must be watching a different game. That it brought no outright result shouldn’t matter, that was cricket at it’s most thrilling…
July 13th 2009 @ 10:23am
FIsher Price said | July 13th 2009 @ 10:23am | Report comment
Spot on Brett.
July 13th 2009 @ 10:27am
Jameswm said | July 13th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
I wonder why if they lost two hours on day 4 they only added half an hour to day 5? I thought they started an hour early?
It was a poor decision from Ponting to use North at the end just to bowl more balls. Firstly Clarke would have been better, but you’re better off having half as many balls from genuine wicket taking bowlers. I have no idea why he didn’t bring on Hilfy.
They needed Lee’s fast reverse inswinging yorkers. North’s bowling was a disappointment. Hauritz was bowling well until about his last four overs. He was the only one who looked like getting them out, but why not bowl a leftie at the other end, who brings the ball in from the footmarks?
The English top order are very lucky their lower order bailed them out. Broad, Anderson, Swann and Panesar all faced a lot of balls to save that match and the Aussies were too defensive and couldn’t budge them quickly enough.
England’s glee at the draw shouldn’t make them oblivious to how comprehensively they were outplayed, though. That was Australia’s toughest test – we haven’t had that much cricket and that was the spinning deck.
July 13th 2009 @ 11:33am
ilikedahoodoogurusingha said | July 13th 2009 @ 11:33am | Report comment
I am amazed that anyone could say it was a psychological victory or England will feel that they are leading 1-0. Yes they survived the day……with 2 hours lost the previous day for rain, and remember Australia took 19 wickets in the match, England took 6, on a pitch that was giving no assistance to the bowlers. Remember also that they sprung the Cardiff test ahead of the traditional Lord’s first test because they thought their spinners would win it for them. I think they will be feeling relief rather than “victory”….and now realise they are playing a good side rather than the easybeats from the West Indies.