Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has conceded that their late loss to England in the opening Test of The Ashes was "heartbreaking".
The Three Lions earned a dramatic 14-run victory over the Aussies at Trent Bridge to take a 1-0 lead in the tour.
Ponting admits that the style of Australia's defeat brought back painful memories from previous Ashes Tests.
"On the first two days of the Test, I was playing for Surrey against Nottinghamshire at The Oval, and all the guys out in the middle wanted to talk about was what was going on at Trent Bridge," Ponting told the Daily Mail. "It's hard to recall a Test match swinging one way then the other so often.
"On the last day, the Surrey boys had training in the morning until 12.30pm, so I missed the first three Australian wickets to fall, then stayed in the changing rooms until lunch to watch Brad Haddin and James Pattinson put together a few runs.
"I rushed home during the interval and watched the rest on my couch. It was pretty heartbreaking, both for me and for the guys in Nottingham. And it reminded me of the tension at Edgbaston eight years ago, when we were counting down the runs but lost by two, and at Cardiff in 2009, when England hung on for a draw. Ashes cricket just seems to keep on serving up these amazing matches."
The second Test takes place at Lord's from Thursday.
Matt Cotton
