England vs Australia, 3rd Test at Manchester, , Aug 11 2005 - Ball by Ball Commentary

RESULT
3rd Test, Manchester, August 11 - 15, 2005, Australia tour of England and Scotland
444 & 280/6d
(T:423) 302 & 371/9

Match drawn

Player Of The Match
156
ricky-ponting
New
AUS 2nd Innings
Full commentary
end of over 1085 runs
AUS: 371/9CRR: 3.43 
Brett Lee18 (25b 4x4)
Glenn McGrath5 (9b 1x4)
Steve Harmison 22-4-65-2

Australia have hung on by the slimmest whisker. England gave it everything they had. The bowlers tried everything they could. But somehow Australia have hung on for the draw!

What an incredible match this has been, on top of everything that has gone in this series

The England team are in a huddle on the field

The Australians are all out of the dressing-room and coming down to congratulate Lee and McGrath

And now in a great gesture the Australians, led by Ricky Ponting, walk down the stairs and shake hands with each of the English players

Do send in any feedback you have at http://www.cricinfo.com/commentary.html

This is Anand Vasu, your commentator, saying what a pleasure it has been bringing you the commentary.

We shall hang on a bit more to bring you some of the post-match comments from the captains

The presentation ceremony is just beginning

As usual the first thing is medallions for all the match officials

Michael Vaughan of England comes up first to have a chat "It's great that we're playing good cricket. This game had everything. Hundreds, wickets, everything. But I would really like to congratulate my team. In the last three weeks we have shown great c

'A few tired bodies in our unit,' says Vaughan. 'Lot's of work for everyone in the last two weeks. A bit of a rest now before the next Test.'

'Ponting played a fantastic knock. He held their innings together,' adds Vaughan. 'Congratulations to Ricky. He played brilliantly.'

Ricky Ponting is the Man of the Match for his epic match saving 160

'Yet again that was an amazing game of cricket,' says Ponting. 'We were outplayed for the first four days. We dug in deep on the last day. Towards the end of the day I thought I might've cocked things up. But Lee and McGrath hung on well.'

'we are training hard enough and preparing hard enough,' says Ponting 'but you need to do it out in the middle when it counts. We played some good cricket today. Now we have some time off and can get away from the cricket for a couple of days.'

And with that we come to the end of our coverage of this Test match.

It has been a real pleasure bring this game to you. We hope you enjoyed being with us.

Till the next Test, this is Anand Vasu, your commentator, saying cheers and goodnight, tipping his hat off to England, Australia, and not least the hero of the day, Ricky Ponting!

107.6
4
Harmison to Lee, FOUR runs

full-toss on the stumps, Lee watches it and clips it to the fine-leg fence for a boundary that saves the Test match!

1 ball left, one wicket needed. What will Harmison go for? Yorker? Slower ball? Bouncer?

107.5
Harmison to Lee, no run

short of a length and just outside the off, Lee leaves it alone

Now 2 balls to go

107.4
Harmison to Lee, no run

very full and far down the leg side, that is easy for Lee to negotiate, left alone

3 balls left now in this incredible Test match

107.3
1
Harmison to McGrath, 1 run

very full and on the pads, McGrath is standing well out of his crease and batting, dabbed away to the on side for a single that gets McGrath off strike

4 balls left

107.2
Harmison to McGrath, no run

just short of a length and outside the off, that was close as McGrath plays and misses

5 balls out

5 balls left rather

107.1
Harmison to McGrath, no run

full and down the leg side, Harmison goes for the yorker but gets it wrong, left alone

end of over 1074 runs
AUS: 366/9CRR: 3.42 
Brett Lee14 (22b 3x4)
Glenn McGrath4 (6b 1x4)
Andrew Flintoff 25-6-71-4

6 balls to go and Glenn McGrath on strike

One wicket in hand

The tension is palpable here

Stuart MacGill comes out with a word of advise to the No. 11

What could MacGill have told McGrath?

106.6
4
Flintoff to Lee, FOUR runs

very full and on the pads, Lee just gets bat to it and tries to push through midwicket for a single. The ball has plenty on it and runs away and just rolls up against the ropes

Down to 7 balls now

106.5
Flintoff to Lee, no run

fullish and on the stumps, Lee defends very carefully back down the pitch

Now just 8 balls left to go in this game

106.4
Flintoff to Lee, no run

good length ball outside the off and Lee is able to leave this one alone without much trouble

Down to single digits. 9 balls left

106.3
Flintoff to Lee, no run

full and fast, late swing in, Lee puts foot out and defends, struck on the pad but he is playing a shot and struck outside line, good decision from Bucknor

10 balls left in this game

106.2
Flintoff to Lee, no run

full again and on the off, driven back to Flintoff who fields in his follow through

11 balls to go

106.1
Flintoff to Lee, no run

full and very quick Flintoff pushing for reverse swing, defended back down the pitch with a straight bat

end of over 1064 runs
AUS: 362/9CRR: 3.41 
Glenn McGrath4 (6b 1x4)
Brett Lee10 (16b 2x4)
Steve Harmison 21-4-60-2

12 balls to go now, 1 wicket in hand

105.6
Harmison to McGrath, no run

short of a good length and outside the off, McGrath watches the ball very carefully indeed and leaves it alone. He has survived that Harmison over

105.5
4
Harmison to McGrath, FOUR runs

low full toss down the leg side as Harmison strains for the yorker, McGrath manages to get some bat on it and send the ball to fine-leg

105.4
Harmison to McGrath, no run

full again and on the leg stump, clipped towards mid-on

105.3
Harmison to McGrath, no run

just short of a good length and on the off, McGrath defends the ball back on to his pad and it almost runs back on to the stumps

105.2
Harmison to McGrath, no run

There's the follow-up to the bouncer, the fast yorker on off stump, McGrath defends with great care

105.1
Harmison to McGrath, no run

short ball banged in first up but it is slipping down the leg side and McGrath is able to sway out of the way

end of over 1054 runs
AUS: 358/9CRR: 3.40 
Brett Lee10 (16b 2x4)
Glenn McGrath0 (0b)
Andrew Flintoff 24-6-67-4

18 balls left to go now

1 wicket to get

Glenn McGrath on strike

104.6
4
Flintoff to Lee, FOUR runs

full and outside the off, Lee pushes it through the off side ion the hope of getting a single and keeping the strike, but the ball is hit too well and runs away for four

104.5
Flintoff to Lee, no run

and another late outswinger that goes through Lee as he tries to defend outside the off stump

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