Australia captain Ricky Ponting slammed England for a lack of sportsmanship after a controversial conclusion to a dramatic drawn first Test here at Sophia Gardens.
Ashes-holders Australia were poised to go 1-0 up in the five-Test series before England's last-wicket duo James Anderson (21 not out) and Monty Panesar (seven not out) held out for the final 40 minutes to salvage an unlikely draw.
But twice during the 10th wicket pair's 69-ball stand, England 12th man Bilal Shafayat ran onto the field to offer Anderson batting gloves while physio Steve McCaig was eventually ordered off by the umpires after making it to the middle on the second occasion.
During the last Ashes series in Britain in 2005, which England won 2-1, Ponting became incensed at the hosts tactic of bringing on a 12th man just to give their fast bowlers a breather.
And he let fly on his way back into the pavilion at then England coach Duncan Fletcher after he was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt during Australia's fourth Test loss at Trent Bridge even though, on that occasion, fast bowler Simon Jones was off the field with a genuine injury.
Ponting kept his anger in check this time around but made his feelings plain to reporters after stumps.
"I don't think it was required. He (Anderson) changed (gloves) the over before," Ponting said. "I don't think they'd be too sweaty in one over.
"I'm not sure what the physio was doing, I didn't see anyone call for the physio, 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."
"I was unhappy with it," Ponting, man-of-the-match for his 150 in Australia's only innings of 674 for six declared, said. "I don't want to make that big a deal of it. It's not the reason we didn't win."
There had been two flashpoints earlier in the day which suggested tempers were fraying.
Before play got underway, England batsman Kevin Pietersen and Australia quick Mitchell Johnson clashed while both teams were warming up on the outfield and during the match itself Stuart Broad and Victoria pace bowler Peter Siddle appeared to be involved in a shoulder-barging incident.
But Ponting played down the impact of both dust-ups, saying of the former: "It was a case of a few guys on the ground taking each others' space."
And, as for the second, which was dealt with by umpire Billy Doctrove, Ponting said: "He handled it and got on top of it pretty quickly.
"It was probably accidental. Move on. It was a great game of cricket and we should be remembering that."
Ponting also defended his decision to bowl part-time spinner Marcus North in the closing stages, rather than fast bowler Mitchell Johnson - Australia's spearhead in the absence of the injured Brett Lee - on the grounds he wanted to get in as many deliveries as he could at the 10th wicket pair.
England, who needed 239 to make Australia bat again, finished on 252 for nine at stumps and Ponting said: "We were running a bit short on time, once they got ahead.
Australia were the dominant side for most of this contest, the first Test ever staged in Wales.
Ponting led from the front in a batting display where further hundreds from North (125 not out), Simon Katich (122) and Brad Haddin (121) saw four Australians score centuries in the same Test innings against England for the first time.
England were clearly buoyed by coming away with a draw that owed plenty to Paul Collingwood's painstaking innings of 74, which spanned nearly six hours after he'd come in with his side in desperate trouble Sunday at 46 for four.
Back in 2005, Australia saw last wicket duo Lee and Glenn McGrath save the Old Trafford Test only for their team to ultimately lose the series.
Ponting warned England against getting carried away ahead of the second Test which starts on Thursday at Lord's - a ground where Australia haven't lost a Test since 1934.
"I'm not sure if they look at it like a win, they're not 1-0 up, they've been outplayed for four days," Ponting said.
"They'll have more soul-searching and selection issues than we will. We know what we've done so well here and we can take a lot of confidence from that.
"All the batsmen looked exceptionally good and the bowlers toiled hard on a surface that offered nothing. We've got to realise how well we've played."
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