Matt Prior hit an unbeaten century as England secured a draw in their three-day tour match against Victoria at the MCG on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 311 for victory on the final day after the home side had declared overnight, England soon found themselves in trouble as Clint McKay reduced the tourists to 55 for 4.

England stumbled along to 149 for six before a 62-run partnership between Prior and skipper Andrew Strauss saw the visitors safely to 211 for six when stumps were called.

England reshuffled their line-up to give Steve Davies his first batting opportunity Down Under with skipper Strauss dropping down the order to allow the rest of the English middle-order some much-needed time at the crease.

Alastair Cook (10) however retained his opening berth but was the first man out after chopping a Clint McKay delivery onto his stumps. Paul Collingwood gained promotion up to number three but his stay at the crease was shortlived as he fell for just eight.

Davies' opportunity also ended all too briefly as he hit three fours on his way to 18 before becoming McKay's second victim, with England slumping to 36 for 3. The situation soon became worst for the tourist as Eoin Morgan (6) also left the crease disappointed with the total on 55 for 4.

Matt Prior had been shifted up to four in the order and he battled on, gaining momentary support from Tim Bresnan(19) and Ian Bell (17) as England slowly fought their way back into the match.

McKay - who's one and only Test cap for Australia came against the West Indies at the WACA last year - provided the biggest threat with the ball as he added to his two wickets up-front with the scalps of Bresnan and Bell in the middle order. The tall paceman finished with impressive figures 4 for 48 on a surface which had produced little for the bowlers in the previous two days.

Fellow Victorian fast bowler Jayde Herrick claimed the other two wickets to fall before he was removed from the attack after bowling two consecutive waist-high full tosses before lunch.

At 149 for six England were still in trouble with Andrew Strauss joining Prior in the middle with just the bowling trio of Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad and Monty Panesar to come. The batting pair chose to shut up shop after lunch as they doggedly hung on to England's unbeaten record on after six games on tour in Australia.

Strauss was particularly laboured as he moved to an unbeaten 22 off 65 balls while Prior hit 12 fours on his was to a fluent century from 145 balls. The duo's partnership came at under three runs per over to steer England to within 100 runs of their target before the players shook hands for a draw.

Despite England's dull finish to the match, Prior made no apologies for the sluggish run-rate.

"Why would you carry on playing your shots and potentially risk losing a game? We didn't want to do that," said the gloveman.

"We were hell-bent that we were going to get through the day.

"Unfortunately it was pretty boring cricket for everyone to watch. Sometimes it's got to be done," he added.

"If we carry on playing the brand of cricket we have been, there's certainly no reason why we can't go through unbeaten."

The England squad now head to Perth for the third Ashes Test starting at the WACA on Thursday.