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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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