If "great" is perhaps the most overworked adjective in sport, then let us not be churlish when it can be applied genuinely. Yesterday, in circumstances that would have tested any resolve, Mark Butcher cast off the demons that have fluttered around his shoulders since he landed in Australia and played a great innings.

Batting with a panache and confidence many believed had deserted him, the left-hander pummelled the boundary to make 116 glorious runs in 20 minutes shy of five hours and in a manner which rekindled the dashing assault of Bob Barber, another left-handed opener, in Sydney 32 years ago.

Butcher thus joined an elite band - Maurice Leyland, Tony Greig and Ian Botham - who have made Test centuries for England at the Gabba.

It was a stunning riposte to Australia's first innings of 485 and one which would have taken Mark Taylor's team by surprise after Mike Atherton had been dismissed without scoring on Saturday evening. By the time the pyrotechnics and torrential rain of a Brisbane storm had curtailed the third day of this first Test by a few balls short of 15 overs, England had reached 299 for four, already consigning to the dustbin any Australian hopes of making them follow on, but more significantly making a statement in the most eloquent fashion possible that this side are here for a scrap.

If Butcher's innings was the highpoint of a compelling day, then there were vital contributions from Nasser Hussain, who made 59 in a bold continuation of his stunning form before he was caught behind off Michael Kasprowicz, from Graham Thorpe undefeated on 70, and Mark Ramprakash, composed and unbeaten on 29.

England have learned to forge stands and there was one of 134 for the second wicket between Butcher and Hussain (including a delicious morning session that produced 126 from only 28 overs), another of 78 for the fourth between Butcher and Thorpe, and an unbeaten 59 for the fifth between Thorpe and Ramprakash.

Only Atherton, Glenn McGrath's victim for the 10th time in his last 14 Ashes innings (seven in the first innings and all but one of those in single figures), and Alec Stewart who, much to his chagrin, swept a full-toss from the leg-spinner Stuart MacGill unerringly to the only deep fielder on the legside, failed to contribute.

On a batting pitch to die for, England showed up the limitations of an Australian attack without Shane Warne. McGrath remains the only true class act, but yesterday, just as he had in the opening Test in Birmingham last year, he failed to find a consistent rhythm.

Thorpe's brace of pulls to the midwicket boundary that greeted McGrath and the second new ball told a tale of their own. He, of course, like MacArthur, will return. But the back-up provided by Damien Fleming and Kasprowicz was modest, while MacGill was just awful.

But this was Butcher's day of days.

Just consider what the poor fellow has been through these past three weeks. In Perth, he ducked into a second-ball bouncer which split open his right eyebrow. Since then four first-class innings have brought him an aggregate of one fewer run, nine, than he had stitches.

Despite his heroic batting at Headingley against South Africa, it would have been the simplest of things to ease him out. But in Cairns last week the England coach, David Lloyd, was affirming that Butcher had immense courage and character and that they had no intention of leaving him out.

It was a massive vote of confidence. "There had been times when I have had my doubts," Butcher confessed, "but I'm pretty strong. And this is a side where everyone is genuinely supportive. It is not an act."

From the outset Butcher decided to be positive, stay strong and believe in himself. So he went for his shots, and from his second ball of the day, which he drove sumptuously and straight, to the joyous moment when he drove MacGill through extra cover for his 16th and final boundary to bring up his second Test century, he did not back down.

Butcher had set his sights on a big innings and, when he reached his hundred, Thorpe, the old hand, reminded him of his responsibilities, telling him on the surface to enjoy the moment but in essence instructing him to regroup and let the adrenalin settle.