Cricket: Ponting slams England after Ashes thriller

CARDIFF - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has accused England of not playing in the spirit of the game in a fiery aftermath to a heart-stopping draw in the opening Ashes test.

The drama came on an ill-tempered final day in Cardiff that climaxed when the last-wicket pairing of James Anderson (21no) and Monty Panesar (7no) batted out the final 69 balls of the contest.

The home side ended the day on 252-9 in their second innings, having needed to score 239 on the last day to make Australia bat again at Sophia Gardens.

Ponting was fuming over England sending out 12th man Bilal Shafayat and physiotherapist Steve McCaig with three overs to play for what appeared to be no other reason than to waste time.

Anderson changed his gloves but Ponting didn't believe there was any need.

"I don't think it was required, he changed it the over before, I don't think they'd be too sweaty in one over," he said.

"I'm not sure what the physio was doing out there, I didn't see anyone call for the physio to come out. As far as I'm concerned, it was pretty ordinary really.

"But they can play whatever way they want to play.

"We came to play by the rules and the spirit of the game, it's up to them to do what they want to do."

Ponting expressed his frustrations on the field to Shafayat and McCaig and expected authorities to take up the matter.

"I won't be saying anything about it," he said.

"I don't think we need to. It was a big enough incident on the field. Someone will say something."

England skipper Andrew Strauss defended his side's actions in the nail-biting end to the day.

"There was a lot of confusion to be fair. We sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty know the fact there was time left, rather than the (number of) overs," he said.

"Then there were drinks spilt on his gloves and Jimmy called to the dressing room and we weren't sure whether Jimmy wanted the 12th man or the physio, just a lot of confusion."

It was just one of many moments in an emotion-filled final day that ignited before a ball had been bowled when Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen had a heated exchange while preparing for the day's play on the field.

"It was just a few guys on the ground taking each other's space," Ponting said.

"Mitchell was trying to bowl and Kevin was hitting some tennis balls towards him. That's where it started to get a bit messy.

"They had a few words after that, there was test cricket to play from there on."

Back on the field, things became feisty as well during the day's play.

In one brutal over that took 10 minutes to complete just before tea, Graeme Swann (31) needed two separate trips from the now famous McCaig after being pinged on the finger and just above the elbow.

Swann kept at it and was more than prepared to respond in kind to Siddle's verbals during the ferocious spell.

Siddle also had a clash with Stuart Broad, after they earlier bumped shoulders after the left-hander had squeezed a shot to the vacant third man boundary.

They then again rubbed shoulders as they both turned around to take up their respective positions.

Ponting said umpire Billy Doctrove had spoken to both players at the end of the game.

"He (Doctrove) said there might have been some contact there," Ponting said.

"He handled it and got on top of it pretty quickly.

"I haven't seen it yet, I haven't spoken to Peter about it but I'll do it tonight."

- AAP