Halliday's 137 rescues England as Trent Bridge test hangs in the balance
England were 48 for 4 when the wicketkeeper walked out. By tea, he had turned the second Test on its head. Australia will resume on 41 for 1.
Nottingham has seen better first mornings for England. The bowlers had been steady, the batting had not, and by the time Sam Halliday walked to the middle at 48 for 4, the second Test looked to be following the script of the first.
What followed was one of the great rescue innings of a summer that has now had two. Halliday, batting at seven, hit 137 not out off 189 balls, sharing three partnerships each worth more than fifty and dragging England to a position from which the match is, at worst, alive.
“I just kept telling myself: watch it, hit it, don't be clever,” he said afterwards, with the studied modesty of a man who had, several times in the afternoon, been very clever indeed.
Australia closed the day on 41 for 1, forty runs behind on first innings. The match, and the series, resumes at 11:00 on Friday.