FOR a while during a morning session in which England looked in danger of collapsing, spectators might have thought they were in for a day of drama to rival those of Ashes past.

In the end, though, this Test fizzled out in the Manchester rain, the lost final two sessions washing out any chance of what would have been an unlikely Australian victory.

Alastair Cook, the England captain, who was removed from the equation along with Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen in the 95 minutes avail­able to Australia's bowlers between downpours, conceded he was not sure England would have got out of this one.

They did just about enough, though, in a Test dominated by the tourists, to hold on for a precious stalemate and claim reward for earlier endeavours in victories at Trent Bridge and Lord's.

"It's been a bit of a strange day, but you've got to look at it over 14 days," said Cook. "If you'd said 14 days ago 'it will rain on the last day at Old Trafford, but you'll have retained the Ashes after three games', I'd have snapped your hand off."

After James Anderson's 10 wickets helped England sneak a 14-run win in Nottingham and Graeme Swann claimed nine scalps at Lord's - with a hundred each time from Ian Bell and Joe Root's second Test 180 - it was time for Pietersen to come up with the goods. His first-innings 113 was perhaps not a vintage demonstration of his talents but it was a vital contribution to the narrowing of England's first-innings deficit.

It was England's collective determination, though, which ensured that Australian improvements, including captain Michael Clarke's tour-de-force 187, were not quite enough to keep the Ashes alive. "We showed a lot of fighting character to get through this game," said Cook. "We might not have played our best cricket, but we're proving we're a hard side to beat."

The captain has long known the value of having a game-changer like Pietersen in his side. Passed fit at the last minute for this match after recovering from a calf strain, the South Africa-born batsman duly surpassed Graham Gooch as England's most prolific batsman in all international cricket. "He's a great player," said Cook. "Great players stand up when you need them and that was a great innings." It certainly was one which gave England the breathing space they needed.

As the forecasted rain bemusingly stayed away, England found themselves in a precarious situation on 37 for three shortly after lunch.

Cook - looking for all the world like a bleary-eyed sleep-walker who had just been woken up and asked to bat - went lbw for a duck to Ryan Harris. Trott was caught-behind down the leg side off the same bowler, and then Pietersen had to go too - with a dash of almost-customary DRS controversy thrown in for good measure.

England's first-innings centurion appeared aghast when his dismissal - after Tony Hill gave him caught-behind driving at Siddle - was not overturned via a third umpire referral which, although it contained no Hotspot vindication of the initial decision, did provide audio which appeared to corroborate bat-on-ball impact.

There was time after lunch for only three more balls, the last kicking alarmingly at Bell from Siddle to strike him a painful blow on the thumb on its way over the slips. The abandonment was confirmed two-and-a-half hours later.

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, conceded that it had been previous performances that had cost the tourists their chance of winning back the urn. "The way we batted in the first innings at Lord's hurt me as much as anything has in my career, certainly as captain," he said. "We got bowled out for 47 against South Africa, but at least that wicket was seaming and swinging. I thought the Lord's wicket was a fantastic batting wicket in the first innings.

"Yesterday afternoon I thought we were in a pretty good position, there's no doubt about that," he added. "The plan was to have somewhere between 20-25 overs at England last night and then come and use as many of the 90 overs today to try and bowl them out.

"It wasn't to be. It's unfortunate from an Australian perspective and all the boys in the room are quite disappointed with not being able to get over the line but I don't want to take any credit away from England. They outplayed us in the first two Test matches, especially at Lord's."