Ashes 2013: James Anderson hails England's Trent Bridge win

England's 10-wicket hero James Anderson admitted to total exhaustion after his side held off a brilliant Australian fightback to win an extraordinary first Ashes Test by 14 runs.

Australia's last pair of Brad Haddin and James Pattinson had taken the tourists from 231-9 to the brink of what had seemed an impossible victory before man-of-the-match Anderson struck to have Haddin caught behind.

He said: "It has been draining emotionally and physically. I'm lost for words - it's been amazing."

Anderson took all four wickets to fall on the final day, the last of them initially given not out by umpire Aleem Dar before a review showed Haddin had got the faintest edge to the wicketkeeper.

"I didn't hear anything [for the final wicket] but Matt Prior and Cookie [Alastair Cook] were convinced," said Anderson. "I'm just delighted we could review it and sneak home."

Australia had begun the day on 174-6, needing an unlikely 311 for victory, but Anderson had Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle all caught at slip by his captain Cook before striking again just as the match was slipping away.

Anderson has now taken five wickets in an innings six times at Trent Bridge and was hailed by the Nottingham crowd as he received his man-of-the-match accolade.

He said: "The match had the nerves going but I love bowling here and I'm happy to pick up some wickets again.

"It generally swings here but whatever way we can get the ball moving, it is a bonus for us.

"At one point it looked like we were only going to have a lead of 150 but Stuart Broad and Ian Bell batted superbly well and got us to a decent total. You can't fault the effort of the boys.

"I love playing Test match cricket and the Ashes is right up there. The hard work in the gym is for bowling the long spells in matches like these."

Cook admitted that his team's nerves had been frayed as the 10th wicket pair threatened to pull off the highest fourth innings run-chase ever seen in a Trent Bridge Test.

"I always said I would be the only England captain not to go bald in the job but days like this won't help that," the captain added.

"Australia battled hard and a lot of credit to them, but Jimmy was outstanding.

"He is a world-class bowler and we use him when we need him. Finny [Steven Finn] and Broady have been great bowlers for us too but it was Jimmy's day today."

Match scorecard

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