Australia believes it has gained the upper hand over England's opening batsmen during the triangular one-day cricket series even though a tied final meant team honours are currently even.

Australia's rollercoaster Ashes tour took another twist at Lord's when England fought back to level the match and force just the second limited overs tie between the rivals.

England tailender Ashley Giles needed three runs off Glenn McGrath's final delivery to win the match and survived a confident LBW shout to score two and take his side to 9-196 in reply to Australia's 196 all out.

To Australia's shock, umpire Billy Bowden ruled Giles got a faint edge on the delivery, and Giles and Steve Harmison scampered through for two as Brett Lee mis-fielded at third man.

England had recovered from 5-33, with McGrath and Lee unplayable, to almost pull off one of the great ODI wins through stands of 116 between keeper Geraint Jones (71) and allrounder Paul Collingwood (53), and 32 between Giles (20 not out) and fellow bowler Darren Gough (12).

Rival captains Ricky Ponting and Michael Vaughan both expressed emptiness at the result, which left the sides on one win over the other in the series (plus a wash-out), although Ponting said the match was one of the best he had been involved in.

Australia took heart from its dominance of England openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, which could be crucial over the three-match one-day series, which starts at Headingley on Thursday, and the Ashes which start later in the month.

Trescothick mustered 33 runs against Australia in four innings (one not out) and was out to McGrath three times, twice caught at the wicket with leaden feet.

For a batsman of Strauss' reputation, his 46 runs from four knocks was as disappointing, and at Lord's was bowled by a Lee in-dipper.

Strauss and Trescothick can forget about the easy runs they scored earlier this northern summer - between them they hit 560 runs in three one-dayers against Bangladesh.

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