Ponting, who became the fourth man to score 11,000 Test runs, scrambled a single to reach his 38th Test hundred off the penultimate ball of the day. Meanwhile, Katich’s painstaking innings, his eighth Test century, lasted nearly four and a half hours.

“It’s taken 14 years of international cricket to get 11,000 Test runs,” Ponting said during tea after crossing the milestone. “Everyone growing up wishes they could do it, but the thing I’m most proud about is my longevity in the game. To play so many Tests, I’m proud of that record. As a top-order batsman, if you play that many games, you’re probably expected to get close on 11,000,” he added.

England captain Andrew Strauss rotated his bowlers, adjusted his field and tried every ploy he could think of but was denied a breakthrough by the combination of a slow pitch and the skill and unremitting concentration of the two Australians. Andrew Flintoff, returning to the team after a knee operation, took the only wicket to fall during a magnificent six-over spell immediately after lunch. Strauss threw the ball to Flintoff and the big all-rounder responded by charging in from round the wicket from the River end and bowling four bouncers in his opening over.

Flintoff was finally rewarded when Phillip Hughes, who had scored only eight runs in 24 deliveries after lunch to reach 36, edged a catch to wicketkeeper Matthew Prior, who took a fine catch low to his right.

Graeme Swann, whose breezy 47 not out from 40 balls in the morning session helped push England beyond 400, bowled five maiden overs in a row. But the Australian batsmen resolutely refused to take any chances, with Katich content to work the ball both sides of the pitch and Ponting pushing it for singles with the occasional swift-footed pull.