Ponting livid at delaying tactics

"I don’t think that was required," Ponting said. "He had changed his gloves the over before and his glove is not going to be too sweaty in one over.

"I am not sure what the physio was doing out there – I didn’t see him call for any physio to come out. As far as I am concerned it was pretty ordinary, actually.

"They can play whatever way they want to play. We have come to play by the rules and the spirit of the game, and it is up to them to do what they want to do."

"I was unhappy with it but I don’t want to make that big a deal about it," he said.

"I am sure others will be taking it up with the England hierarchy as they should. But it is not the reason we didn’t win. I won’t think about it again when we leave here."

England captain Andrew Strauss said: "If he is then that’s a shame.

"There was a lot of confusion. We firstly sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty know there was time left and not just the overs.

"Then drinks spilt on his glove and Jimmy called up to the dressing room and we weren’t sure whether we needed the 12th man or the physio.

"Our intentions were good so weren’t deliberately trying to waste a huge amount of time. That wasn’t our tactics, those two were playing pretty well so the reality of the situation is Australia didn’t take that final wicket and we got away with a draw.

"I personally thought the game was played in a pretty good spirit the whole way through. I didn’t feel there were lines crossed and I think we’d all like it to stay that way."

Two other conflicts earlier in the day suggested things were on the verge of boiling over.

Ponting said: "It was a case of a few guys on the ground taking each others’ space."

"He handled it and got on top of it pretty quickly," Ponting said. "I don’t think it was that significant and if there had been anything in it I would have been spoken to on the field. It was probably accidental. Move on. It was a great game of cricket and we should be remembering that."

"He just brought his character into his performance," said Strauss. "He is a tenacious little red-head, that’s the way he is and that’s the way he plays.

"He never takes a backward step and he fights, he keeps fighting.

"That was his route into the Test team and it’s kind of the only way he knows.

"In circumstances like that you almost expect him to do something along those lines and it just underlines his value to the side."

Ponting added: "He did exactly what was required for his team. He gave himself every opportunity to do the best job he could.

"It shows a lot of character for someone like that to take the majority of the bowling through the course of the afternoon. He deserves a pat on the back. Without his innings England would have been in a whole lot of trouble."

"I think when they put Marcus North on I thought we had a great chance," said Anderson.

"They were putting a part-time spinner on and Monty was playing it very well and we were communicating well together, helping each other through."