Ashes 2015: Steve Finn Exploits Put England At Verge Of Win

In reply Alastair Cook and Adam Lyth survived two overs to go in 4-0, leaving 117 more runs to get if they are to go 2-1 up in the series.

“Obviously in any position you feel like you can win a Test match“, said Warner.

At tea on the second day, Australia – already in their second innings – were 73/2, a deficit of 72 runs, with opener Warner 56 not out.

“We got edges, there were a few poor shots. I used to put myself under a huge amount of pressure but now we just want to play with smiles on our faces”, he said. Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc shared a 64-run partnership before Finn again made the breakthrough, claiming Nevill for 59, with Australia still only 72 in front at 217-8.

Resuming after lunch 85 ahead on 221-7, Moeen and Stuart Broad took the attack to the Australians to the delight of the crowd. Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon finished with three wickets apiece, while Johnson and Mitchell Starc ended with two each.

Agar hit 98 as a tailender on his Test debut two years ago and Australia will need similar heroics today.

After capitulating to 136 all out on the first day and then facing a deficit of 145 after England made 281, Australia had no answer to Finn’s pace, bounce and movement at a raucous Edgbaston.

But whereas that clash had taken place on a largely placid pitch, the course of this Test owed much to Michael Clarke’s decision to bat first on a seaming surface offering sideways movement.

Australia batsman Chris Rogers, Finn’s former Middlesex captain, recalled seeing the 6ft 7in seamer in tears during a county match at Edgbaston last season but the emotions this time were all positive.

“We are still a big three wickets away and then some runs to get, its by no means done, ” he told reporters.

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.

Marsh, one of Australia’s greatest wicket-keepers, was involved in a stunning batting collapse at Edgbaston in 1981 where Kim Hughes’s men slumped to 121 all out chasing 151 as England, with all-rounder Ian Botham taking five for one in 28 balls, won by 29 runs.

But concerns persist over England’s leading Test wicket-taker Anderson, who turned 33 yesterday and was playing in his 37th successive Test, when he was forced from the field with an apparent side strain midway through his ninth over.