England last pair Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar proved their country's unlikely batting heroes when the host defied the rules of probability by drawing the first Ashes Test against Australia on Sunday. Australia, which had dominated the match in all departments for the first four days, was 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. The England dressing room also realized 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.”
