“He said to me that I wasn’t getting the ball out of his hand until he had all the wickets, Freddie was right in the zone. He’s got a great heart and that’s what gets him over the line. He was like a bull chasing a red rag, He was dying to get out there and play, We’ll see how they react over the next three days but we’re hopeful we’ll have a fit team for the next Test.” England captain Andrew Strauss hailed Andrew Flintoff’s inspirational display.

“It’s right up there with anything, It’s always a privilege to play at Lord’s and to get my name on the board is really special. It’s been a great Test match for the team. Everybody in the side has contributed. It’s nice to get five wickets but it’s been a hard battle over five days. Everybody can be proud. It’s not ideal, But I had four Tests and now it’s one down, three to go. I have played for most of my career with a bit of pain. I’ll be fine. There is so much at stake and there’s always that adrenaline to take the pain away. I bowled a lot of overs and my pace has been up. I’ve felt good apart from a few twinges and they went away so that’s an encouraging thing. When you get injured, come back from an operation and do rehab it can be testing at times. Putting on an England shirt again is at the forefront of your mind and playing against Australia winning a Test match is one of the things that keeps you going. It’s something I never really got an opportunity to do before but now a role I feel a lot more comfortable in. When I was younger with the new ball I got caught in two minds – whether I should be swinging the ball or just putting it there. Now I just try to hold it seam up and whang it – it seems to be working.” said Freddie Flintoff .

“There was a lot of confusion. We firstly sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty Panesar 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 we 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.”  England captain Andrew Strauss said.

“I don’t think that was required, I am not sure what the physio was doing out there – I didn’t see him call for any physio. I’m sure others will take it up with the England hierarchy as they should. He had changed his gloves the over before and his glove is not going to be too sweaty in one over, But it’s not the reason we didn’t win. 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’d give it back straight away for one more wicket and 20 less runs! We haven’t really done anything wrong and we’ve got a lot to take out of this game. I’m disappointed we didn’t win, I thought we played well enough. There are four Tests to go in the series and we will have to play at this level if we want to win. You’ve got to give England some credit for hanging in there and Paul Collingwood for the way he played. Losing the toss, it was always going to be really hard to win with the wicket the way it was but we did everything we needed to do to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately we were just that little bit short. It’s pretty quiet at the moment and there would have been a bit of celebrating and jumping up and down in the England room, I’m sure, A lot of our boys will be disappointed for half an hour after the game and then we can reflect and talk about a lot of the good things that we did. That’s the important thing, we did so many things really well in this game and we’ve got to take the confidence from that down to Lord’s and make sure we start there on the same note.”  Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.

“Reputations and legend are generally made out of these bigger series and there is no bigger series than an Ashes series to do that, One good initiative we have had since we have been here is during every game day or training day, one or two guys have been telling us what an Ashes series means to them, and what it means to be a part of it. Hearing them say some of the things they have said makes me think they really want to forge their own identities and make an impact in this series. The thinking caps will have to go on and we will have to work out what the best XI will be in these conditions down here. We have got more than capable guys to step into that void. You can understand from their (England’s) point of view they will want to replicate everything that happened and they did in 2005. But I think we are a better team as a result of that series, and better prepared than we were then. If you look at our overall squad, we have got really good balance, not just in one certain area but right the way through. Our fast-bowling attack – all five of the guys feel as though they should be in the team – is a real positive for us. We have flexibility as well in that all of the bowlers are very different in what they do and what skills they have. We have got a good blend of experience and youth in our batting as well. “I think those things puts us slightly ahead of whatever England have got.” OZ captain Ricky Ponting said.