England 435 & 252-9; Australia 674-6 declared
England avoided defeat in the first Ashes test at Cardiff by the skin of their teeth. The hosts looked to be heading towards certain defeat until Paul Collingwood’s determined 74 and the last wicket pairing of Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson miraculously came to their rescue.
Chasing Australia’s first innings total of 674, England were in massive trouble from the beginning of their second innings, already having lost two wickets at the end of the third day for 20 runs.
Matters worsened in the morning session of the fourth day when Australia struck a severe blow by taking a further three wickets in the space of an hour and a half, leaving England on a precarious 70-5.
England still trailed by 169 runs with 70 overs remaining. Faces were gloomy, England were staring down the barrel and optimism for the series as a whole was stifled.
Then came Paul Collingwood. The Durham man defended resolutely, hitting 74 runs in a total of 245 balls over nearly 6 hours. Collingwood hardly played a risky shot, which is more than can be said of his teammates, who had fallen rapidly before him.
Just as England fans were beginning to believe that something could actually be salvaged from the match, Australia made the breakthrough. Siddle eventually removed Collingwood, who nicked his shot to Hussey at slip. It appeared England’s last defence had fallen with at least three hours and 40 overs left at 159-7.
However, with nine wickets down, Panesar and Anderson managed to frustrate Australia for the last 69 balls and cling on for a famous draw that had scarcely seemed possible and keep the series level.
Although Australia played the better of the two, it is the hosts who will be delighted with the result. Andrew Strauss admits rapid improvements are needed if they are to challenge Australia at the next test at Lord’s, which begins on Wednesday.
“We got away with it, we know that, and we must come back and play better. We were outplayed in this match, we know that”, the England captain said.
“We had our chances, especially on the first day, but we didn’t take them. We must play better than we did this week, but thankfully it’s still 0-0 in the series.
“We must sit down with the selectors, get away from the emotion and pick a team for the second Test.”
Whilst opposite number and man of the match Ricky Ponting can be pleased with the manner of his side’s performance, he will be extremely disappointed not to have capitalised on the opportunity and taken the match Australia deserved to win.
“It’s pretty quiet in the dressing room at the moment and there would have been a bit of celebrating and jumping up and down in the England room, I’m sure,” he admitted.
“We haven’t really done anything wrong and we’ve got a lot to take out of this game. I’m disappointed we didn’t win; I thought we played well enough.
“There are four tests to go in the series and we will have to play at this level if we want to win.”
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A draw is also on the cards in the one test series women’s Ashes: a result which would see England retain the trophy as current holders. Australia posted 309 in their first innings before bowling England out for 268 and will continue batting at the start of the fifth day on 128 for 1, a lead of 169. England had looked in danger of slipping to defeat at 116-5, but made a safe recovery. A draw now looks the most likely result, since nearly two innings must be completed in one day if either side is to obtain victory.
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