Hussain batted well

Glenn McGrath was the unfortunate bowler and, to the naked eye, it seemed that Mark Waugh - the most easy and secure of slip fielders - had caught him low at second slip.

It certainly appeared to be at a more comfortable height than the chance offered by Ponting but, once again, the third umpire was undecided and gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt.

Trescothick was entitled to stay his ground but it will not be long before the only time we see a batsman walk voluntarily, is when all three stumps have been knocked out of the ground!

Mind you, he will probably wait to see if the delivery had been a no ball.

McGrath, in particular, bowled some gruesome deliveries.

Caddick nonsense

Butcher was on the receiving end of the worst of them - one took off from short of a length and struck him on the left shoulder which rather contradicted Andy Caddick's remarkable observation yesterday that this was a good batting pitch.

What nonsense, and unless England's cricketers are big enough to admit when they have had a bad day at the office, they will never come close to challenging teams like Australia.

I was surprised how under-bowled Shane Warne was today.

Warne: Under-used

There are some tempting bare patches, particularly favouring a spin bowler operating down the slope from the Kirkstall Lane End.

This is also the end that the seam bowlers would prefer, which complicated things for Gilchrist, but as the shine and hardness wore off the ball we can expect Warne to give the batsmen real problems on the third day.

As time passed, Hussain grew in confidence.

He has endured the most miserable of summers and, although he was not at his most fluent - because he has hardly had a bat in his hand for two months - it would be fitting if he sees his team to their immediate target of 248.