England rise for the Ashes

How typical, how bloody, bloody typical. Where is the rhyme for it or the reason?

After suffering an opening day to the Ashes series the like of which an England team has scarcely if ever before suffered, Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher saw out the second day at the Gabba with an undefeated century partnership to put the lid on three sessions they had dominated from the third over, when Matthew Hayden's epic innings came to a close three runs short of his second Test double century.

If it was hard to find a redeeming feature to England among the carnage of Thursday, then yesterday it was the Australians who were culpable. On 364 for two overnight, they lost four more wickets by lunch and the remainder by mid-afternoon for only a further 128 runs as Andy Caddick (three for 108), Craig White (two for 105) and Ashley Giles (four for 101) compensated for the absence of Simon Jones.

Those chances that went in the air were taken, the wheel of fortune perhaps turning in their favour when one offering to Marcus Trescothick at first slip flipped from his grasp but was regathered gratefully.

If a renewed determination not to be the butt of any more Australian (and English) gags had been all the day contained, the performance in the field would have been meritorious in its own right. But in the 47 overs that remained for England to bat, it was they who played the confident shots on this extraordinarily good pitch, and ran the well-judged singles, while it was Australia who were the butter-fingered fielding side.

Catches were dropped, the sort that the world's best side take for a pastime, and behind the stumps Adam Gilchrist, the fellow who tormented England during the last home Ashes series, compounded a forgettable day in which he had been dismissed for a second-ball duck by fluffing a stumping that would have sent Mark Butcher on his way when he had 30.

Australia even have an injured fast bowler in Jason Gillespie, who managed only three overs before his suspect calf tightened up.

By the close Butcher had just reached his half-century. His 51 contained only four boundaries, but in a gesture that epitomised the England fightback, three of them - a calculated hook over midwicket, a searing square cut and the most exquisite of cover drives - came off successive balls from Shane Warne. "Don't get greedy," someone said. "You don't want him taken off." As if.

Trescothick in the meantime had grown from a hesitant start and was undefeated having hit 10 fours and a six in his 63, completing on the way 2,000 Test runs in his 50th innings.

The only Australian success came when Michael Vaughan received a ball from Glenn McGrath that cut back into him and feathered the inside edge of his bat. His 33, of an opening stand of 49, had come from only 30 balls.

But until Trescothick and Butcher settled in to steer their way safely to the close, McGrath and Warne had both been treated with severity, conceding runs at almost five an over - 113 in all in England's 158 for one.

Although his decision to field first may have cost his side dearly (and the situation last night was that England still required 135 to avoid the possibility of a follow-on) Nasser Hussain no doubt read his side the riot act, for the response was admirable.

With the second new ball only eight overs old, Caddick surged in, leading the attack in genuine wholehearted fashion. And if the batsmen are lining up Matthew Hoggard as a likely source of runs, Craig White bundled in with a point to prove.

Perhaps Hayden got too big for his boots, for having dispatched Hoggard for two disdainful boundaries, he hooked at Caddick's bouncer and got the slightest glove to Alec Stewart. It set off a chain of events that saw Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh (after scratching an hour and 11 minutes for seven) and Gilchrist out before lunch.

Warne might have gone too, for when he had only a single to his name, he touched a short ball from Caddick to the keeper only to be given the benefit by Steve Bucknor. The result was a half-century for Warne, ended only when he was ninth out, caught at fine leg hooking Caddick's bouncer.

In between times, Darren Lehmann had batted for one and half hours for 30, adding a valuable 63 with Warne without convincing anyone that he is an adequate replacement for Mark Waugh, and then, after he was caught low down at short extra cover, Andy Bichel was unquestionably lbw to his first ball.

Damien Martyn at third slip should have ended Trescothick's innings in McGrath's second over, but Vaughan was belligerent and fluent, driving and pulling McGrath and cutting Bichel wickedly.

But it was the handling of Warne by Trescothick and Butcher that made the most emphatic statement. No ground in Australia has brought the great spinner more success than the Gabba. Yet the pair defended watchfully, and when the ball was flatter and quicker (therefore liable to go straight on) looked to areas over midwicket. No loose ball went unpunished.