CARDIFF, Wales (AP)

England and Australia drew the first Ashes Test yesterday after a thrilling last wicket stand by the home side's final pairing of James Anderson and Monty Panesar.

England closed on 252-9 after a partnership by Paul Collingwood (74) and Graeme Swann (31) frustrated Australia for 82 minutes after tea at Sophia Gardens.

Australia had looked set for victory when Collingwood was caught by Michael Hussey off Peter Siddle. But Anderson and Panesar then batted for 40 minutes to steer England to safety in a nail-biting finish, taking the total past the 239 it needed to force Australia to bat again.

horrible to watch

"It was horrible to watch," England captain Andrew Strauss said. "As a batsmen to watch your number nine, 10 and 11 batsmen do your job for you is not ideal. I thought we always had one wicket too many down and it was only with 18 balls to go that I thought we had a sniff."

Australia captain Ricky Ponting pinpointed Collingwood as the man who had denied the tourists' victory.

"He deserves all the credit you can give him, because without him and his innings England would have been in a whole lot of trouble," Ponting said. "We just weren't quite good enough to finish off a great five days."

Ben Hilfenhaus claimed 3-47 and Nathan Hauritz 3-63 as Australia's bowlers initially exerted the kind of pressure their English counterparts failed to produce during 12 hours in the field, after the hosts had resumed on 20-2.