Anderson suffers side problem

England’s momentum was stifled to some extent in the afternoon as David Warner flashed his blade but even the lively left-hander is vulnerable and his innings ended on 77 when his side still needed 34 to avoid an innings defeat inside two days.

England’s leading wicket taker in tests said working with bowling coach Ottis Gibson had paid dividends. “The bowlers set the tone on day one, it’s been a great week for us but there’s a lot of hard work for next week as well”.

England, who will be without James Anderson for the fourth Test at Trent Bridge due to a side strain, were frustrated further in the fifth over of the day.

They have appeared in control nearly throughout a manic contest but had to regain their composure – via half-centuries from Joe Root (63) and Moeen Ali (59) – after Mitchell Johnson dented home confidence with two wickets in three balls in his first over of a sunny morning.

Starc took nine wickets in the first two Tests of this series but was largely ineffective in taking 2-71 in England’s innings at Edgbaston.

Steve Smith (eight) quickly followed when he skied a catch to Buttler attempting to pull Finn, registering his second single figure score in a game for the first time in 22 Tests.

The development has echoes of the injury suffered by Australian bowler Glenn McGrath, who hurt his ankle in warm-up of the Edgbaston Test during the 2005 series in England. Mitchell Johnson started the day with two early blows and soon England were in trouble.

Anderson had previously strung together 37 consecutive Tests. It was technical stuff – he thought I was just putting the ball there during the Lord’s game so I’ve worked on finishing my action a bit more.

Nevill and Starc had helped themselves to 39 runs off the first six overs of the day, Alastair Cook leaving only two slips in place after half an hour.

According to a report from Cricket Australia, the veteran suggested that Australia’s effort with the ball at Edgbaston was “reminiscent of Cardiff” when the bowlers struggled to make an impact.

Starc went down swinging at Ali as Australia were bowled out for 265.

“You’ve got to give their attack credit, they bowled very well, but there’s times when you’ve got to fight, you have to get through somehow, and you look at some of the dismissals and think maybe we shouldn’t have got out that way”.

It completed a weird sequence for Nathan Lyon (three for 36), who was taking a wicket – as he had twice the previous evening – in his first over, the others each having come in separate minimum spells.

Finn’s controlled swing bowling reduced Australia to 168-7 at stumps of Day 2 in Birmingham.