There could be no relaxation, though, for a team who had failed to bat out the final day in Sydney at the start of the year.
England needed to bat out the final day of the second Test at Taunton to secure a draw, but seamer Jhulan Goswami's second five-wicket haul of the game left India with a target of only 98 and they duly knocked off the runs.
Swann helped England regain the Ashes last year, claiming eight wickets in the decisive final Test victory at Oval and averaging 35 with the bat, which has also helped him to fourth place in the world all-rounder rankings.
The following week, in the absolute final stretch of the campaign, she will be going to bat for female Democrats in two of the most closely watched Senate races in the country: headlining an event in Seattle, Washington, for Sen.
Right there and then we had to stop Benny from telling us the story of Tom's final hour so he could first tell us the story of the aluminum bat.
So Benny told us the story of Tom and the bat and then he told us the story of Tom's final hour.
He bowed out after 19 seasons with the Red Sox at age 42 and after a season in which he hit .316 with 29 home runs, the last one coming in his final at-bat.
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Australia, who won the first Test in Brisbane by an innings and 65 runs, reached tea with only four wickets down but lost Marcus North caught off bat and pad in third over of the final session and then Clarke, who got a thick edge to slip.
Van Vuuren enjoyed a cameo appearance with the bat too, smashing Jimmy Anderson for six with the final ball.
Kent resumed the final day on 304 for nine, five runs short of making Warwickshire bat again.
At age 26 he wrote to me and described his final at-bat playing AA ball (with Cal Ripken) at the Charlotte Orioles.
He turned one between bat and pad to bowl Kirby for 15 after Gloucestershire had begun the final day on 97-2, facing a remote victory target of 411.
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With two-and-a-half days remaining in the match, Australia needed to bat at least six sessions if they were to stand any chance of keeping the series alive for the final Test in Sydney on 2 January.
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