The Ashes:Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels his side are in better health than at any other point in the Ashes series following their draw at Edgbaston. With England talisman Andrew Flintoff struggling with a knee injury and their own attack spearhead Brett Lee hoping to be fit for the penultimate Test of the npower campaign at Headingley, the Australians are upbeat despite being 1-0 down.
Michael Clarke's second hundred of the campaign, allied to a resurgence in form from Marcus North (96) and Michael Hussey (64), and a second half-century in the match from makeshift opener Shane Watson eased Australia to a draw on the final evening.
After the visitors shook hands on a stalemate at 375 for five in their second innings, Ponting reflected on mission accomplished.
"Things went a bit more to plan than they did at other times in the series and with these other guys who have missed out a little bit in the first couple of Tests getting some results in this game, it should probably put us all in a good frame of mind going into the next game," Ponting said.
"We did what I expected us to do and kept England out there all day, which is a really good thing for us."
Keeping Flintoff on the park - with just three days between Tests - would have been an objective after he defied his knee injury to bowl England to victory at Lord's.
He did not take a single wicket in Birmingham but showed his importance to the side with a belligerent 74 with the bat.
"It has been pretty visible in the last couple of days he has been struggling more than he was during the Lord's Test," said Ponting.
"Even when he batted yesterday he was hobbling quite a bit and he only bowled the 11 overs today, in two spells.
"So there was no doubt they were trying to protect him as much as they could late in the game knowing how big a player he is and how a big a figure he is for them in the next Test.
"Having (Kevin) Pietersen and him out of the same side would leave two pretty big gaps in their make up.
"Visibly you could see he went downhill pretty quickly through the course of this game, so his injury is probably starting to take a bit more effect than what we actually realised."
Australia will prepare as if they are to face Flintoff on Friday morning at Headingley and hope Lee, another star of the 2005 series, is in their own selection equation.
"He has done a lot of bowling this week and every opportunity he has had, whether it be a rain break or when he has not been 12th man, he's wanted to get a ball in his hand and get to the indoor nets or out in the middle," Ponting said.
"That's a really good sign for us and he has built up his pace over the last couple of days.
"We will need to see him go pretty hard over the next few days to give himself a chance of selection for the next Test match."
Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin will also be checked after breaking his finger in the warm-ups at Edgbaston.