Alastair Cook seeks the perfect finish

ALASTAIR Cook targeted an outright series victory after England retained the Ashes by drawing the third Test at Old Trafford.

England retains Ashes

ALASTAIR Cook targeted an outright series victory after England retained the Ashes by drawing the third Test at Old Trafford.

That his side were probably saved by the rain made for a slightly subdued atmosphere at the ground after the result left England with an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Cook, the England captain, said that he would have "snapped your hand off" at the prospect of retaining the urn only 14 days into the five-match Investec campaign. He has little time to wait until beginning the next task as the fourth Test at Emirates Durham starts on Friday.

"To be in this position after three Tests is really nice," Cook said. "Obviously the weather has not been ideal and it does not quite have the atmosphere because of that, but the feeling in the dressing room is a very pleasant one. It is a happy place.

"The first objective was to retain the Ashes and now we have done that we want to go on and win the series.

"There is another one coming up in Australia in the winter, but we have made a conscious effort not to put the two together. We have given them separate identities so the goal now is to win at Durham and then at The Oval."

Michael Clarke managed to put aside his frustration and disappointment at being restricted to only 20.3 overs by the weather overnight to admit that England had outplayed his side in the critical first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord's.

"England deserved to be 2-0 up and you pay a high price for that in the UK because there is always the chance of rain somewhere down the line," the Australia captain said. "We fought our backsides off in this game and I think we outplayed England."

Australia declared before play started, leaving England a target of 332 to win, but the loss of three wickets in 17 overs gave the touring side a considerable edge before heavy rain forced an abandonment at 4.39. Fewer than 5,000 spectators remained as England made two short appearances on the dressing-room balcony to acknowledge applause before wandering outside to sign autographs.

Given the dreadful weather forecasts it was a surprise to see any play at all and Cook denied that England were underprepared even though several players arrived little more than 30 minutes before the rescheduled start of play at 11.30.

"All the important people in terms of the top four or five were here in plenty of time," he said. "We are certainly not going to put that out as a reason why we lost wickets. It is personal preference, some guys like to get to the ground really soon, some were here hitting balls at ten in the morning."

England have added Graham Onions to the squad for Chester-le-Street while Chris Tremlett has kept his place in the party. Monty Panesar has been omitted with no necessity to even contemplate a second spin bowler, and James Taylor is no longer required as cover for Kevin Pietersen.

Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: "While the players should be congratulated on retaining the Ashes there is still a lot of cricket left in this series and it is important that the players recover and refocus ahead of another crucial week."

The last drawn Ashes series was in 1972, but emulating that is now the target for Clarke. He said: "It will be a great achievement to leave with a 2-2 result. We have a big test ahead of us, but there were really good signs here with our batters making runs."

The departure of Pietersen to a catch behind confirmed on review despite no mark on Hot Spot raised more questions about the Decision Review System. "We are a little bit confused, but hopefully the ICC can iron out those things," Cook said.

The Times