Close - England 155 for 2 (Butcher 47*, Hussain 45*)
England fought back well after losing both openers to Glenn McGrath and - hold on to your seats - could claim to have had the better of the second day. At the close they still trailed Australia by 292, but they at last showed the sort of resolve that Nasser Hussain had called for at the start of the series. It was just what this series needed, even if it has come four Tests too late.

Hussain himself was at the hub of England's fightback, adding an unbroken 88 for the third wicket with Mark Butcher, who resumed the role he briefly forsook at Trent Bridge of England's most solid batsman. Their progress wasn't always thrilling, but it was absorbing, tense and everything else that this series had thus far failed to be.

The pair came together after Marcus Trescothick had cut short a typically hearty innings with an untypically brainless shot, hoicking across the line against Glenn McGrath and getting an edge through to the keeper for 37 (67 for 2). Four overs earlier, Mike Atherton had been caught behind for 22, falling to McGrath for the 17th time in Tests.

You expected Australia to tighten the noose, and England might have suffocated had umpire Shepherd upheld a convincing shout for leg before from McGrath before Hussain had scored. But from there it was all England. Hussain broke a quiet spell with a couple of rasping pull-shots for four (who says 2nd XI county cricket can't prepare you for Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie?), before whacking a Shane Warne full-toss through the covers.

Butcher made the early running, but was happy for Hussain to take up the baton towards the end. The 150 came up when Butcher rocked back to cut Warne to the point boundary, and the crowd began singing songs that have sounded like hollow bluster for much of the series.

Earlier, Australia's innings had centred around a world-class innings from Damien Martyn, who turned his overnight 19 into a century full of effortless off-side punches. No ball was too good for him: decent-length deliveries outside off disappeared past cover, while anything overpitched was greeted with a crack of the bat that managed to be both violent and gentle at the same time.

But if Martyn shone for Australia, Darren Gough dazzled for England. All at sea on the first day, he rode the crest of a wave today, and picked up five of the six wickets to fall. First to go was Simon Katich (15), who cut a neat, earnest figure on debut, and unfurled three crisp off-side drives before leaving one ball too many and losing his off stump as the ball swung back into him (355 for 5).

Adam Gilchrist briefly threatened to do his uncanny impersonation of a whirlwind, but on 19 he chipped Gough to cover, where Trescothick dived forward to take the catch (396 for 6).

Martyn moved to his hundred when, with a wave of his wand, he cut Alan Mullally for four in the first over after lunch, but the last four wickets fell in a hurry, in consecutive overs from a pumped-up Gough. Shane Warne top-edged a pull and was caught by Alec Stewart to register a duck (412 for 7); Brett Lee cut to Mark Ramprakash in the gully to register another (422 for 8); Jason Gillespie (5) fiddled outside off stump and was taken by Atherton at first slip (438 for 9); and Martyn's hoick ended up in Stewart's glove via Atherton's goalkeeper-like parry. All out for 447, and the pressure was on England. For once, they responded well.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com

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