England vs. Australia, 3rd Test: Steve Finn Stars on a Dramatic Day at Edgbaston

England moved to the brink of victory on a dramatic Day 2 of the third Ashes Test against Australia.

The hosts managed to gain a first-innings lead of 145 despite losing Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes to a pair of thunderbolts from Mitchell Johnson in the second over of play in Birmingham, England.

Joe Root made a top score of 63, but it was Moeen Ali's knock of 59 that helped give England a substantial advantage by the time it was their turn to bowl again.

David Warner gave Australia a fast start to their second innings, however a middle-order collapse saw them limp along to 168 for seven by the close of play.

The tourists will resume with a narrow 23-run lead and in need of a miracle. Here are some of the many potential takeaways from a gripping day of Test cricket.

The perfect comeback

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If Finn’s two wickets on his comeback to Test action was the feel-good story on Day 1, his heroics on Day 2 were more suited to a Hollywood script.

The seamer conceded 14 runs in his first over of Australia’s second innings. A change of ends, however, resulted in him producing a stunning spell.

He claimed four wickets as the tourists slipped from 62 for one to 92 for five.

Finn dismissed Steve Smith and Michael Clarke for the second time in the match, while Adam Voges lasted just one delivery as England tightened their grip on the contest.

The Middlesex bowler returned late in the day to see off Mitchell Johnson, in the process completing his fifth five-wicket haul in the longest format.

The benefit of a long tail

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England's first innings were teetering at 190 for seven after a subdued Jos Buttler had been trapped leg before by off-spinner Nathan Lyon before lunch.

However, Moeen Ali’s selection in the side to bat at eight in the order means there is always the chance of the tail wagging.

Combining with Stuart Broad, who made 31, the two left-handers put on a crucial 87-run stand for the eighth wicket.

Moeen had struggled to even hit the ball in the morning session, playing and missing several times at Lyon in particular. He did make contact with a short ball from Mitchell Starc, cutting it over the top of the slips.

Yet whatever he had for lunch seemed to do the trick. Dan Liebke wondered on Twitter if it might have been more than just something he ate during the break:

The Worcestershire all-rounder came out at the start of the second session and cut loose—Johnson suffered the most, leaking five fours in the space of 10 deliveries.

Not for the first time in the series, Moeen’s counter-attacking policy made a huge difference to England’s final total.

At Cardiff, in the opening Test, he hit 77 to help carry the score from 293 for six to 430 all out. It proved to be a match-winning score in Wales, and it seems that will now also be the case at Edgbaston, too.

Taking the Michael

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Michael Clarke has not had a good time of it in the third Test.

He did call correctly at the toss, but it’s been downhill for Australia’s captain since 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

His side made an absolute mess of batting first, with the skipper himself making just 10 before he played over the top of a full delivery from Finn.

The second innings didn’t go much better for Clarke—he was one of Finn’s five victims, caught in the slips for three as a ball that pitched on a good length squared him up.

Clarke has now made 94 runs in six innings in the series, though his run of poor form stretches beyond just the current tour of England, as ESPN Cricinfo pointed out:

The right-hander’s Test average has now dipped below the magical number of 50. He is only 34, but a glass back has already forced him to adapt his technique to try and prevent any further injury setbacks. 

Australia will stand by their leader during this lean period, but even Clarke will know that it cannot go on for much longer.

The waiting game 

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England are obviously sitting pretty going into Day 3.

Their only worry—apart from Peter Nevill producing an innings similar to the 149 not out Sir Ian Botham famously managed at Headingly in 1981—is the injury picked up by James Anderson.

The Lancastrian was forced to cut short his ninth over after three deliveries due to a tight side, as ESPN Cricinfo tweeted:

The concern is not that the seamer won’t be able to take the field on Friday, but that he may now be ruled out for the fourth Test, which gets underway in Nottingham on August 6.

Anderson will not want to miss out on playing the next match at Trent Bridge—he has taken 53 wickets at an average of 19.24 on his previous appearances at the venue.

He will now have to wait to find out if his Ashes series has come to an early conclusion. Whatever the damage, it was certainly not the way he wanted to celebrate his 33rd birthday on Thursday.

The best of the rest

It would be wrong not to point out a couple of moments that could otherwise get lost on a ridiculously busy Day 2.

Warner equalled the record for the fastest Ashes half-century, as the England and Wales Cricket Board revealed on Twitter:

The left-handed opener eventually fell for 77, having faced 61 deliveries and hit 11 boundaries. When he was the sixth man out, the rest of the Australian side had combined to score just 34 runs between them.

While Warner impressed with the bat, Johnson produced a brutal reminder of his abilities with the ball right at the start of proceedings.

The left-arm paceman produced two brutish deliveries to remove Bairstow and Stokes, neither England batsman able to avoid gloving short deliveries aimed right at them through to wicketkeeper Nevill.

All stats used in the article were from ESPN Cricinfo