Australia clung on for a draw to deny England victory with just one wicket standing in a thrilling finish to the third Ashes Test at Old Trafford on Monday.
Last-wicket pair Brett Lee (18 not out) and Glenn McGrath (five not out) survived the final four overs after captain Ricky Ponting fell for 156, his Test best score against England, having batted for nearly seven hours.
The draw left the five-Test series all square at 1-1.
PHOTO: AFP
Ponting was given out caught down the legside by wicket-keeper Geraint Jones off fast bowler Stephen Harmison, but only after New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden deliberated for several seconds.
Man of the match Ponting had faced 275 balls with one six and 16 fours, the first century by an Australian batsman this series.
Australia, set a record 423 for victory, finished on 371 for nine.
No side had made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than the 418 for seven West Indies scored against Australia at St John's, Antigua, in 2002-'03, but at the finish Ponting's men were only 52 away.
"I thought the game had slipped away from us," Ponting told reporters afterwards of his feelings following his dismissal.
"It was difficult enough for me batting against [Andrew] Flintoff and [Stephen] Harmison at the end. Having Glenn and Brett subject to it for four overs, I didn't have a lot of faith in them. But they managed to get through and did a fantastic job," he said.
"It doesn't feel like a win. We've snuck away with a draw. That's probably one of my best Test innings, not just a match-saving one," Ponting added.
"I was able to do what's required of you as a leader and as a captain," he explained after managing just 119 in five previous innings.
"That was as tough a day of Test cricket as I've experienced," Ponting said.
Meanwhile England captain Michael Vaughan, after rain meant only 14 overs play were possible on Saturday's third day, refused to be downhearted.
"It was a fantastic game of cricket. We were one wicket away from going 2-1 up and a lot of people will say `you must be disappointed.' But I'm very proud of the way the team have responded to going 1-0 down at Lord's [where England lost the series opener by 239 runs last month,]" Vaughan said.
And Vaughan, who scored 166 in the first innings, insisted this result was better than England's two-run second Test win at Edgbaston.
"We were better here. We dominated the whole Test match against a good Australian team. A day was lost to weather but we couldn't control that and we still came within a whisker of beating them," he said.
England had high hopes of winning back-to-back Ashes Tests for the first time in 20 years when they reduced Australia to 264 for seven after tea.
However, Ponting found a resilient partner in leg-spinner Shane Warne, who'd made 90 in the first innings after becoming the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets on Thursday.
But just when it seemed Warne, dropped on 30 by Hampshire team-mate Kevin Pietersen, would stay with his captain until the end he was out when he edged pace-bowling all-rounder Flintoff, on his home ground, to Andrew Strauss at second slip.
The ball hit the fielder on the right thigh but keeper Jones, reacting quickly, scooped up the rebound with his right glove and Warne had gone for 34.
That left Australia 340 for eight with just over nine overs left in the day after a stand of 76 lasting 22 overs.
At tea, Australia were 216 for five, needing a further 207 to win. Ponting was 91 not out and Michael Clarke, who'd been off the field for most of this match with a back problem, unbeaten on 20.
Ponting completed his 23rd Test century and fifth against England when he cover-drove Harmison for four.
But at the other end Clarke, having frustrated England in a sixth wicket stand of 81, fell when he shouldered arms to Jones on 39, the reverse swing specialist getting the ball to move back-in sharply and hit off-stump.
Jason Gillespie, Australia's best defensive lower-order batsman, was sent in ahead of Warne only to be lbw to seamer Matthew Hoggard for nought as Australia declined to 264 for seven.
England took the new ball but in the end couldn't quite make it count.
New Zealand, Zimbabwe
AFP, BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe
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At the lunch break New Zealand were 180-2, not having lost a wicket in the opening session. The first innings deficit stood at only 51 runs with eight wickets still standing at the break.
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