England Lions 316 (Flintoff 108, Davies 76, Whitney 4-72) and 276 for 9 (Coles 67, Hurst 53, Elliott 3-38) drew with Cricket Australia XI 214 (Hicks 64, Brown 5-21) and 442 for 9 dec (Ward 120, Clayton 84, Hackney 70*, Radhakrishnan 58, Cook 4-47)
Half-centuries from Matt Hurst and James Coles rebuilt the Lions innings after they had slipped to 21 for 4, before the tail held on despite Jem Ryan and Sam Elliott claiming three wickets apiece.
The Lions innings had run into trouble when Elliott struck twice in as many balls, removing Hamza Shaikh and James Rew, to leave the tourists four down inside nine overs.
Opener Ben McKinney counter-attacked with 47 before Hurst and Coles got to work on balancing a salvage job with keeping a still-achievable victory target within their scope.
Hurst was judged leg before after moving down the wicket and looking to engineer a shot to leg off Elliott before Coles pulled Ryan to Hackney as the field had started to spread.
First-innings centurion Rocky Flintoff was cast into a different role, his patient 28 from 64 balls befitting the situation, while Shoaib Bashir (24) batted for an hour before Hugo Burdon found his off stump. Last pair Tongue and Cook completed the rearguard by surviving 45 balls, as the Lions reached stumps on 276 for 9.
The Lions now turn their attention to next week’s first-class match against Australia A in Sydney, which start on 30 January.