Steven Finn ripped through hapless Australia to claim 5-45 and put England on the brink of an astonishing victory on day two of the third Ashes Test, at Edgbaston.

Finn – playing his first Test for two years – removed Michael Clarke and Adam Voges in successive balls on his way to his fifth five-wicket haul in 24 Tests as Australia, bowled out for 136 first time around, capitulated to 111-6 in their second innings having conceded a first-innings deficit of 145.

Of the top six only David Warner (77 off 62 balls) stood up to the battering, his 35-ball half-century equalling the fastest Test fifty for Australia.

By stumps Australia had rallied to 168-7 thanks to an unbeaten 36 from Peter Nevill to lead by just 23 runs with three wickets and three days of cricket remaining.

With the fourth Test at Trent Bridge just a week away, England’s sole concern surrounded James Anderson, who left the field with a tight side; his fitness will be assessed overnight.

By then England should be 2-1 up with two to play – an astounding transformation given Australia’s series-levelling 405-run victory in the second Test at Lord’s.

England, who began the day three runs behind Australia on 133-3 in their first innings, swelled their total to 281 on the back of half-centuries from Joe Root (63) and Moeen Ali (59).

But the early exchanges belonged to Mitchell Johnson, who produced two superb short balls in his opening over that Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes could only glove behind.

In removing Bairstow, Johnson joined Shane Warne as only the second Australian to score 2,000 Test runs and 300 wickets and became the fifth bowler behind Glenn McGrath, Dennis Lillee and Brett Lee to take that many scalps for their country.

Root, 30 not out overnight, played positively despite the early setbacks on his way to a 49-ball fifty but his intent proved his undoing when he was drawn into driving at a wide ball from the erratic Mitchell Starc.

Jos Buttler was next to go as spinner Nathan Lyon (3-36), who removed Alastair Cook and Ian Bell in his two overs on day one, improved his figures to 3-3 from three overs by trapping England’s wicketkeeper in front – although replays showed the ball would have bounced over.

Moeen Ali initially struggled to settle at the crease, in particular against Lyon’s probing off-spin, but produced a flurry of fours after lunch to bulk up England’s advantage before cutting Josh Hazlewood to third man.

Australia’s second innings stuttered from the off as Stuart Broad, bowling around the wicket, trapped Chris Rogers lbw for six.

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.

Australia’s plight worsened in the second over after tea when out-of-nick skipper Clarke (three) was caught well down at third slip by Adam Lyth, Finn striking again with his very next delivery as Voges hung out his bat and picked out Ian Bell at second slip.

Mitchell Marsh left the hat-trick ball well alone and didn’t lay bat on his 24th delivery either as Finn slipped a delivery past his forward push to make it 92-5.

Warner pressed on regardless only to come unstuck in the first over of Anderson’s second spell as he tried to flick the ball to leg, his 62 ball innings featuring 11 fours.

But with Australia on 121-6 and staring at a two-day defeat, Anderson left the pitch mid-over with a suspected side strain to give England genuine concern ahead of the fourth Test, which begins at Trent Bridge in a week’s time.

Australia were spared the ignominy of their first two-day Test defeat since 1890 by a seventh-wicket stand of 42 between Peter Nevill and Johnson – remarkably the first stand in either of the tourists’ innings to last 10 overs.

The pair had advanced the score to 153-6 when Johnson (14) attempted to work the first ball of a new Finn spell to leg only to top-edge it to Ben Stokes at point.

Australia survived to stumps with no further loss – Nevill, preferred by the selectors to Brad Haddin, toughing out the remainder of the day.