Cook and Trott delighted with draw

Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott hailed a job well done as England's top three batsmen helped secure a comfortable draw in the first Ashes Test.

Cook scored a ground record 235 not out and Trott added 135 to steer England to 517 for one – the tourists’ highest total at the Gabba – before the sides shook hands with Australia on 107 for one in pursuit of a notional 297.Trott, who began the day on 54 with England 309 for one, said: "It's nice to get in and play a big part with Alastair and to help save the game. I'm just happy to contribute really.

"It's a very difficult game, as we all know. I'm very pleased with how it's gone."

Cook, who had resumed on 132 this morning, added: "Last night I was really happy to bat through the whole day. I'm really pleased to finally make a double hundred."

Cook acknowledged with some modesty that he had broken Don Bradman's record Test score at Brisbane.

"I feel slightly humble at that, slightly ruining all the records there for the wrong reasons but it's a nice one to have," he said.

Trott paid tribute to Cook and captain Andrew Strauss for playing calm and confident knocks to get the ball rolling in the second-innings reply.

"The way Andrew and Alastair batted at the beginning set the tempo for the innings,” he observed.

“It's always nice to come in when you're 180 for one (sic), the job was done by them and we just continued to do the work really.

"We wanted to get it on a bit and set them something and have a little bowl at them and see what we could do.“That was the sort of impetus that we needed, and it was nice to go through the gears in a Test match."

Strauss was impressed by his team's character after a poor start for the team and him personally when he was out for a third-ball duck on day one.

"Getting out in the first over in the first Test is a pretty horrendous way to start,” he said.

“We felt pretty low then and after day three we felt downbeat as well, we'd done good things and we were behind in the game.

"But we dug pretty deep and we're very happy to be nil-all. Nothing changes and both sides will come out hard in the next Test in Adelaide."

Asked about England's approach to the second innings, when they needed 221 just to make Australia bat again, Strauss said:

"If you just go into your shell and try and survive you play into the opposition's hands.

“If you look for scoring opportunities it creates momentum for you and once we got that momentum it became easier and easier."

Australia skipper Ponting admitted his side had let the chance of victory slip away onday four and added: "We probably haven't played our best the last couple of days of the game.

"The wicket did change dramatically and the last three days of the game have been dominated by the bat."

Ponting ended the day unbeaten on 51 and said: "I obviously wanted to get some time in the middle. It finished the game on a good note.

"We should know a lot about their top three batsmen. We've got some work to do, Adelaide is a very good batting wicket.

"We just weren't able to mount any pressure on them. They played very well and you have got to give them credit."