Its taken a few days to actually recover from the stress of it all. They describe war as hours of boredom and seconds of terror. The first test qualifies as war on that definition.
It seemed to be days of total inactivity. Englands recovery from a poor start in the first innings seemed to have achieved a decent enough score.
The Australians seemed to make little headway in the run chase on the second day, but equally our bowlers seem to give their batsman no concerns.
It looked to be a tedious pitch growing more tedious by day 3 and then it all started to go horribly wrong.
Australia mounted the sort of score which meant a draw was the best option for England.
Still that was no worry, the pitch was clearly a batting paradise, the Aus were making it look easy.
How many times over how many years have I started stupified at the screen when it comes to Englands turn to put on a performance. Suddenly this batsman's pitch had untold demons in it. Wickets fair cascaded.
Oh blessed rain, I'd be happy if it rained for the next two days if it meant a draw.
This was not too be. England were going to have to get this most tedious of results by their own skill.
Collingwood stood like a rock against the Aus mighty tide while the rest of the top order were quite honestly crap.
When Collingwood got out by the most unfair of catches (the chap deserved better) Monty was "the hope of his side".
We were well and truly sunk. Monty, bless him, is not a chap to put a wager on to survive six balls, let alone 60 odd.
However ball by ball, moment by moment, the impossible was happening. The crowd cheered every ball that failed to get a wicket. The hands of the clock crept towards the magic minute which would leave Aus no time to fight back.
The tension was hideous, every ball was going to be the one that knocked over the stumps, but Anderson and Monty showed batting skills some of the top order better start developing if we have any hope of winning this series.
The most incredible of draws was eeked out in front of my disbelieving eyes.
And a tedious test match was elevated into something incredible by a few hours of desperate play. We have survived the technical whitewash of 5-0 at least.
Off to Lords, not a ground filled with happy English wins. We need to play a hell of a lot better to give ourselves any chance of victory.
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