After the first day of England's latest Ashes campaign, even the Australians were depressed at the resurfacing of old failures and the re-opening of barely-healed wounds. "Is there anyone in England who can play cricket?" lamented the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph. But by the close of the second day, with Jason Gillespie laid low with injury and Steve Waugh bowling bouncers in a vain attempt to recapture his youth, the only cricket of any note was being played by Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher.

This was England's day, and no mistake. They won all three sessions by healthy margins – if not the gargantuan ones that Australia managed yesterday – and so went from shambolic also-rans to vibrant competitors at the speed formerly reserved for Ricky Ponting's pull shots. It may not save them the match – Australia still lead by 334 runs, and England are one bowler and two wickets short after Simon Jones's awful injury – but as a statement of intent and a blueprint for victory at a later date in the series, the revival could not have been better timed.

Australia's cricket was littered with all the sorts of errors that their propagandists would claim are a thing of the past – dropped catches, a missed stumping, loose shot-selection and, the greatest sin of all, complacency. They batted like a side with a divine right to a 600-plus total – Matthew Hayden even walked for a dismissal that hardly anyone had noticed – and their slip cordon, post-Mark Waugh, continued to show a lack of conviction that rivalled England's injury-ridden efforts in 2001.

Of course, all things are relative where Australia and England are concerned, and with Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in the side, skid row is only ever a six-over spell away. But in taking eight Australian wickets for 128, and replying with 158 top-quality runs of their own, England went some way towards righting their copious wrongs of the first day. Michael Vaughan sparkled for his 33, and took enough pounds of flesh from McGrath to ensure that theirs will be a contest to savour for the rest of the series. Trescothick had his fortune, and looked horribly out of touch early in his innings. But he endured, as he had to, and by the close he was depositing Warne into the stands with the nonchalance that characterises his best form.

Quite what Nasser Hussain made of this volte-face is anyone's guess. He was pilloried for his decision to field first, and even now, after a good day of strong English batting, it still makes little sense. But nobody thrives on cussedness quite like Hussain. There's not a chance of him apologising, but there's every probability of a big score, just to show `em.

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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