Australia captain Ricky Ponting was both happy and relieved after his man-of-the-match winning 156 helped guide his side to a third Test draw against England. Ponting defied the England attack for seven hours but when he was out last-wicket duo Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath had to survive four overs against the likes of hostile England quicks Stephen Harmison and Andrew Flintoff before the game was made safe and the series stayed level at 1-1.
"I thought I had let the whole thing slip so the emotions have been up and down all day," said Ponting whose 275-ball innings, the first century by an Australian batsman this series, was his highest score against England.
"I had a little tantrum when I got out and sat in the dressing room with my head down for a while because I thought the game had slipped away from us, I must admit.
"It was difficult enough for me batting out there against Flintoff and Harmison at the end, so having Glenn and Brett subject to it for four overs meant I didn't have a lot of faith in them.
"But they managed to get through and do a fantastic job once again, as they have all series," he also told reporters after Monday's tense final day.
"I don't think a draw ever feels like a win but we worked extremely hard to sneak away. It was a long, hard day of Test cricket and an unbelievable Test match once again," said the Tasmanian whose side, having been set a record 423 to win, finished on 371 for nine.
"That was one of my best knocks, not just a match-saving one," he added of an innings featuring one six and 11 fours. "It is satisfying to put your hand up when it matters and do the things the team require as a batter and as a leader," said Ponting who was under pressure after England's nailbiting two-run second Test win at Edgbaston.
"We have had to scrap and fight for everything; this is certainly the highest-intensity Test cricket I have played in for the last four or five years and you won't find two better tussles than you have witnessed over the last two weeks. We haven't done a lot right but they've been unbelievable games."
Meanwhile Ponting insisted that victory had never been a serious possibility. "We thought if we could get through the first two sessions of play without losing many wickets an opportunity might present itself in the last session. If we had wickets in hand we could have had a go at it.
"We wanted to remain positive and at the end of the day we were only 52 runs away and we haven't tried at all to win that Test match because we weren't in a position to do that."
Australia have won the last eight Ashes series, England having to go back some 18 years to Mike Gatting's 1986/87 tour for their most recent Test campaign win over their oldest foes.
But one reason for the narrowing gap between the teams this season, with England now ranked number two to Australia's number one, has been the decline in dominance of the world champions' top order.
Even Ponting, who before his hundred had managed 119 runs in five innings had been struggling while the likes of Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and the often dangerous Adam Gilchrist have all been well below their best, a testament to the quality of England's pace attack.
"We've had two really good wickets to bat on in our first innings and we've only just managed to get to 300 both times. That's not good enough," said Ponting, who also berated the team's fielding that saw several chances go begging in England's first innings.
"We've got guys who are in good form and look good for short periods of time and they are just getting out. We've got to rectify that," insisted Ponting ahead of the fourth Test, which starts at Trent Bridge on August 25.
"If we actually start finding some form and hitting top gear you'd like to think the results would be slightly different."