'England went too far'

John Emburey told Sky Sports News that England did overstep the mark with their time-wasting tactics in the thrilling finale to the first Ashes Test.

First 12th man Bilal Shafayat came on to the field to offer Jimmy Anderson new gloves, while physio Steve McCaig also appeared - even though no-one had called for treatment.

Anderson and Monty Panesar survived to earn England an unlikely draw, leading Australia captain Ricky Ponting to question whether the "the rules and the spirit of the game" had been contravened.

Opposite number Andrew Strauss put the incident down to "confusion" but Emburey insists England knew what they were doing.

"I don't think it sat comfortably with many people, having watched it on TV myself and seen that sort of incident over the years with other teams you've played with trying to waste a little bit of time," he told Sky Sports News.

"To a certain extent it was a little bit understandable but it does sit a little bit uncomfortably coming just two minutes before the end of play. Had it been 15 or 20 minutes earlier, it probably wouldn't have been so bad.

"I do think the umpires could've just said 'look, I'm sorry, we're going to continue the game'; there was only two minutes left before the final 10 minutes for the change of innings."

Emburey also felt that the interruption could've done more harm than good.

Anderson (21no) and Panesar (7no) survived the 69-ball onslaught as well as the impromptu break.

"Sending a player on the field, the 12th man, at that stage when both had batted so well in developing a partnership that ended up saving the game, could have had a detrimental affect by feeding them more information - they could have lost a little bit of concentration," he said.

"They had played very, very well and I am sure they were well aware of the situation."