England captain Michael Vaughan admitted his side would have had no chance of regaining the Ashes had Australia pulled off a miracle victory in the second Test at Edgbaston.

England held on to level the series at 1-1 with a two-run win after Australian tailenders Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz nearly pulled off the unthinkable.

Australia started the day needing 107 runs to win with two wickets left, but Warne's 42, Kasprowicz's 20 and unbeaten 43 from Lee nearly got Australia over the line.

England won when Kasprowicz was caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones off the bowling of Steve Harmison, which sent the home side into ecstasy.

England's dreams of winning the Ashes for the first time since 1986-87 remain alive, but Vaughan admitted the series might have been gone if Australia had pipped the home side.

"I don't think we would have come back from 2-0 down against a team like this if we had of lost here," he said.

"But there's still a hell of a lot of positives to take from this game of cricket.

"It's fantastic to have levelled the series 1-1. I really didn't think it was going to get that close, chasing 107 on the last morning.

"It was looking like we weren't going to get over the line, so to get over the line is a real good boost for the England team."

England's victory was the second-closest in Test history, behind only the West Indies' one-run triumph over Australia in 1992-93, and gave it the chance to take enormous momentum into the third Test at Old Trafford, starting Thursday.

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