Read a match report from the first Ashes Test in Cardiff, where England (435 & 252-9) drew with Australia (674-6) at The Swalec Stadium on July 12, 2009.
England produced one of the great fightbacks to save the first Test against Australia on an extraordinarily tense evening in Cardiff.
Last pair Monty Panesar and James Anderson finished off the work done by Paul Collingwood as Australia failed to take the final three wickets they needed as the match entered its final hour.
Panesar and Anderson batted for 69 balls after coming together with England staring down the barrel of an innings defeat. A total off 11.3 overs were remaining when Collingwood was dismissed for 74 ending an innings that lasted for nearly five hours to lift England from the abyss after losing three crucial wickets in the morning session.
Panesar and Anderson scored 19 runs but more importantly chipped away at the overs and the umpires declared the match a draw with England 13 runs ahead.
"We are just happy to come away with a draw," said Anderson. "We tried to bat as long as possible and Monty made a fantastic contribution."
Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Hauritz both took three wickets each and Peter Siddle bowled with aggression and venom but in the end Australia fell short. England will now go to Lord's for this week's second Test in fantastic spirits despite a desperate performance for most of the match.
They owe much to Collingwood. The Sunderland supporting scrapper was almost on his knees when he edged a delivery form Siddle to gully after a defiant performance that set up the thrilling finale.
Swann went into the tea break nursing plenty of bruises after a bouncer barrage from Peter Siddle. Swann took blows on the fingers and elbow but refused to be ruffled by the rough treatment.
He continued his obduracy after tea adding 62 runs with Collingwood but more importantly eating into the overs. The two were together for one ball shy of 20 overs, a tense period that lasted 80 minutes.
The crowd seemed to feed off their partnership with belief rising around Sophia Gardens as each over was ticked off.
The flow of runs, never more than trickle before, slowed almost to a standstill. Swann was bounced by Siddle straight after tea, the ball cannoning off his helmet for three byes.
With Swann and Collingwood looking comfortable Australia quickly took the second new ball with 25 overs to go.
Hilfenhaus beat Collingwood with the first delivery but the pressure eased on England as Mitchell Johnson bowled a terrible spell. He struggled with his line and was twice called for wides.
Hilfenhaus was more dangerous extracting enough swing to plant doubt in the batsmen's mind. Swann drove a four through the covers but fell attempting to pull a ball that failed to lift and was lbw for 31 off 62 balls.
James Anderson is England nightwatchman, suggesting they feel he can bat, and he does hold the world record with the most consecutive innings without a duck. He stretched that tally to 51 today.
But it was vital that Collingwood survived. With Johnson struggling to handle the pressure Ponting replaced him with Siddle who struck the telling blow with his third ball.
The tailend tenacity was in stark contrast to what went before. Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior were all guilty of glaring misjudgements as Australia applied pressure to English throats.
Pietersen fell shouldering arms to a straight ball from Hilfenhaus which knocked over his off stump. Strauss cut strongly at a short ball from Nathan Hauritz and was caught behind. Prior also fell to the off-spinner, attempting a late cut to a ball that turned and bounced into him with Michael Clarke taking a smart slip catch. At that point England were 70 for five, 171 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat. and the damage was done.
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