CRICKET/Ashes Test series: Another day, another Ashes nailbiter. More of this and it will be the cuticles that take a gnawing. But in what will probably be called the greatest Test match between these two sides in, oh, more than a week, Australia survived the day by the very skin of their teeth to set up what promises to be a dramatic climax over the next few weeks.
The end could not have been more dramatic. By the time England had winkled their way through the Australian order to the last pair there were four overs - 24 deliveries - in which Andy Flintoff and Steve Harmison could give their side the series lead.
Slips and gullies abounded in a cosy circle, augmented by a short leg and silly point. The wonderful crowd that had cheered and chivvied England all day rose to its feet and thundered out a crescendo of noise. But Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath survived. As Harmison's final ball of the day and the match was clipped off his toes by Lee, the batsman punched his fist in the direction of the Australian supporters and embraced McGrath, who steadfastly had kept out nine of those 24 deliveries.
England might feel deflated but as the crowd began to drift away to tell their tales Michael Vaughan called his players around him and told them, no doubt, to be proud of what they have achieved over the past three weeks since the heavy defeat at Lord's.
A lesser England side than this might by now have been contemplating another Ashes submission. Instead, with Australia no doubt resurgent after their escape, Trent Bridge and The Oval will witness a fitting finale to what already has been a memorable series.
It was a masterclass from Ricky Ponting that saved Australian skins - his 156, chiselled out over almost seven hours, a supreme effort, the 23rd century of his Test career and his fifth and highest against England. Oh captain, my captain, as Walt Whitman wrote.
This was indeed a true captain's innings, but with added piquancy, a leader batting not just for the esteem of his side, reduced at times during this Test to a shadow of the great team they once were, but for his own.
For four days Ponting had watched things fragment around him, unable to offer inspiration, a man apart it seemed, losing touch with his charges. So he did what great competitors do and led the way out of the wilderness. This may just be the glue that binds his team together once more and England may feel the backlash.
Having come to the crease in the day's second over, Ponting offered not the semblance of a chance until, with the job all but completed, he attempted a tired swat as Harmison's short ball drifted down leg side inside the line of his body. As it went past, it brushed glove, Geraint Jones, just as he had to end the Edgbaston classic, taking a tumbling catch.
The wicketkeeper, incidentally, played a blinder yesterday and credit to him for that, bouncing back as he did from the first-innings depths.
Ponting had hit a six, pulled over square leg in Flintoff's first over of the innings, and 16 fours besides. If he played and missed, it was infrequent, trouble coming only as Flintoff squared him up and cut the ball away or Simon Jones found reverse swing.
But any threat Ashley Giles may have posed out of the fifth-day rough was treated if not with disdain then dismissively.
Harmison, until his brief surge at the end, looked as jaded as Peter Marron's pitch, and Jones was finally forced from the latter stages with cramp.
Matthew Hoggard took a wicket with his first ball of the day and snared another later, but pro rata must currently be the highest-paid bowler in the world.
England cannot say they did not have their opportunities, for by tea, with any remote chance of an Australian win out of the equation, the seamers had already taken five top-order wickets - Damien Martyn had been given out leg-before to an inside edge off Harmison - and were to add Michael Clarke and Jason Gillespie in the first hour afterwards.
The way was open in the way of many matches that seem to be heading for a draw but have been settled late on the final day as pitches turn cranky and have the last word.
Gillespie's appearance ahead of Shane Warne had caused raised eyebrows. The new ball was due so perhaps he was acting as a sort of watchman for that, a sacrifice made to protect the spinner that he might more comfortably help bat out time.
Instead, with 28 overs still to go, Warne was there with Ponting to take the full force of it.
Together they added a notional 76 runs for the eighth wicket, but more pertinently survived for 22 overs before Flintoff, seeking his fourth wicket, took Warne's edge, and the rebound from Andrew Strauss's knee was athletically caught by the alert wicketkeeper.
Seven overs earlier, however, Warne had clipped a low full toss from Jones away to the right of Kevin Pietersen, who got to the catch easily but for the fifth time in as many chances failed to hold on. There are things happening to him in his brief Test career that are just serving to keep him honest.
Later, when Ponting was batting with Lee, more than six overs of the match remained, and the captain was intent on keeping the strike, he called for a short run to extra cover that was bordering on the suicidal. The throw, though, from the substitute fielder Stephen Peters, who had only just taken the field, missed the stumps. The Worcestershire batsman may well be a fine fielder but innings, matches and series can hinge on moments such as this.
These pages have already put forward the notion that the professionalism of the England side demands the highest standard of everything and that should include the substitute fielder. If Paul Collingwood is the best in England then, county cricket or not, he should be there. Yesterday it is not being too fanciful to suggest he might have helped them win the Ashes. Instead, once more, it is all in the mix. Do not turn away.
SCOREBOARD
England first innings 444 all out. Australia first innings 302 all out. England second innings 280-6 declared.
AUSTRALIA SECOND INNINGS
(target 423 runs, overnight 24-0)
J Langer c G Jones b Hoggard 14
M Hayden b Flintoff 36
R Ponting c G Jones b Harmison 156
D Martyn lbw b Harmison 19
S Katich c Giles b Flintoff 12
A Gilchrist c Bell b Flintoff 4
M Clarke b S Jones 39
J Gillespie lbw b Hoggard 0
S Warne c G Jones b Flintoff 34
B Lee not out 18
G McGrath not out 5
Extras (b-5, lb-8, nb-20, w-1) 34
Total (for nine wickets, 108 overs) ... 371
Fall of wickets: 1-25 2-96 3-129 4-165 5-182 6-263 7-264 8-340 9-354
Bowling: Harmison 22 4 65 2 (nb-4, w-1), Hoggard 13 0 49 2 (nb-6), Giles 26 4 93 0, Vaughan 5 0 21 0, Flintoff 25 6 71 4 (nb-10), S Jones 17 3 57 1. Match drawn - series tied at 1-1. Next matches: Aug 25th-29th, 4th Test Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Sept 8th-12th, 5th Test The Oval, London.
