ANDREW Caddick utilised four years of frustration to earn respect from all quarters and restore England's shattered self-belief following a memorable turnaround in the first Ashes Test.

After a demoralising first day at the Gabba, when Australia seemed to have control of both the Test and the Ashes already having reached an imposing 364 for two, the tourists' spirit was not far away from being shattered.

They had lost exciting young fast bowler Simon Jones, who ruptured cruciate ligaments in his right knee, and allowed Australia to once again dictate the opening exchanges helped by captain Nasser Hussain's decision to bowl on a superb batting surface and a series of fielding mishaps and dropped catches.

Another bad day could easily have set the tone for the whole series and would have tested even an expert man-manager like Hussain's ability to lift a squad of players who have already been ravaged by injury since their arrival.

But just as Australia looked poised to continue their ruthless pursuit of victory, Caddick emerged as England's catalyst for a vastly-improved performance which at least has given them a platform from which they could prevent first Test defeat.

By the close of the second day Australia had lost their last seven wickets for 93 runs in 27 overs to be dismissed for 492 - still an imposing total but not as daunting as anticipated - while England's batsmen had successfully frustrated Australia's attempts to make inroads by reaching 158 for one.

The talisman for that was Caddick, who was given a licence to let loose at Australia's formidable batting line-up and delivered one of his most effective spells in recent years to ruin Australia's hopes of reaching around 600.

From the very start of the day, striking with the 17th ball to end Matthew Hayden's innings three runs short of a double century when he edged behind attempting to hook, Caddick provided the main threat to Australia's batsmen.

Having removed England's chief tormentor from the opening day, he then set his sights on Australian captain Steve Waugh, a player who has built a prolific career despite a reluctance to hook or pull the short ball.

Many teams have tried to exploit what they see as a weakness but few have done it as effectively as Caddick, tying Waugh down until he saw a chance to clip a single and instead chipped straight to short leg.

Caddick, no doubt spurred on by the memory of being overlooked for the Ashes tour four years previously, also claimed the crucial wicket of Shane Warne later in the innings when he threatened to swing the momentum back in Australia's direction with an entertaining 57 off only 65 balls.

"I think England came out and played pretty well," admitted Warne.

'They showed a bit of fight and spirit and Andrew Caddick showed a lot of ticker today by bowling all but one over during the first session.

"At times he bowled a little bit too short, but I was really impressed with his effort. Over the years he's probably not put in as much as that for his country like he did today - not against us anyway - but I'm sure Nasser will be very pleased with his effort more than anything else."

His role in England's revival did not go unnoticed in his own dressing room either with left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, who finished with four for 101, revealing his performance provided the inspiration for others around him.

"He bowled a beautiful spell this morning from one end, bowling for most of the session, and those sort of performances give everyone else a kick up the backside and a boost and spur you on," admitted Giles.

"It was important to bounce back today. We have a lot of character in this side, if nothing else we're fighters and this is going to be a very tough series for us with a possible 25 days Test cricket where you can't afford to take your foot off the gas for a moment or the Aussies will punish you."

That was illustrated by England's determination when they began their reply, with Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan facing a tricky nine overs before tea which they negotiated but only after proving the Australians are just as fallible in the field.

Somerset left-hander Trescothick struggled to find his usual fluency early on and was fortunate when he edged Glenn McGrath to Damien Martyn at fourth slip having scored only two but the chance was missed.

McGrath, forced to shoulder most of the responsibility with Jason Gillespie limited to only three overs after fears he had suffered a recurrence of his calf trouble, gained his revenge by having Vaughan caught behind just as he seemed set for another dominating innings.

Mark Butcher was more fortunate, though, and was dropped on 14 in the gully while Adam Gilchrist missed a stumping when he had reached 30 off Warne, increasing Australia's frustration and steeling the tourists' resolve to shake their confidence further during the remainder of the Ashes series.