The Ashes:James Anderson fulfilled his billing as the leader of England's attack by driving a masterclass in swing bowling to strengthen their position in the third npower Ashes Test.
The Lancashire seamer was highlighted as one of England's main threats before the start of the series having claimed nine wickets in his previous Test earlier this summer against the West Indies at Chester-le-Street.
But that performance was put firmly in the shade on the second morning at Edgbaston when Anderson finally arrived as an Ashes performer with a five-wicket haul to dismiss Australia for a modest 263.
Determined to build on the opportunity Anderson had created, England captain Andrew Strauss hit an unbeaten 64 to guide his side to a promising 116 for two - trailing by 147 runs - by the time bad light halted play 19 overs prematurely.
But it was Anderson who was the driving force behind the stunning turnaround in fortunes with Australia starting the second day on a commanding 126 for one, only to lose seven wickets in the dramatic morning session.
While Anderson took the plaudits, it was Durham seamer Graham Onions who began England's fightback by claiming three for 13 in just 27 balls including two wickets from the first two deliveries of the day.
Bravely given the opening over of the morning by Strauss despite being smashed out of the attack the previous evening when he conceded 21 runs in only three overs, Onions repaid that faith by immediately winning an indisputable lbw decision against makeshift opener Shane Watson with the first ball.
Onions followed that with a ball slanted across left-hander Michael Hussey, which he left believing it would carry on its course wide of the stumps but instead swung late into his off-stump.
Michael Clarke survived the hat-trick ball but it provided England with early evidence that unlike the previous evening, when Australia were able to hit 22 boundaries in the 30 overs available, the ball had begun to swing.
Strauss reacted immediately and introduced Anderson, his other swing bowler, at the Pavilion End as a replacement for Andrew Flintoff. Faced with the prospect of a swinging ball at both ends, Australia collapsed.
Captain Ricky Ponting became Onions' third victim of an impressive nine-over spell when he mistimed an attempted pull and edged behind, but only after he had passed the 25 runs he needed to overhaul Allan Border's tally of 11,174 runs to become Australia's highest Test run-scorer.
Just as England may have got the benefit of the umpiring decisions in the previous Test at Lord's, which helped them secure their first Ashes Test win there since 1934, they once again profited from umpire Rudi Koertzen's decisions.
Anderson claimed his first wicket, winning an lbw appeal against Clarke which appeared to be missing leg stump on television replays, but there was nothing wrong with the outswinger in his next over which Marcus North edged behind to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
North's dismissal was followed by the demise of Mitchell Johnson from the next ball, which again looked like a Koertzen mistake with TV replays suggesting it was too high, but for the second time in one session Australia survived the hat-trick ball with debutant Graham Manou emerging unscathed.
Drafted in at late notice following Brad Haddin's broken left ring finger, Manou did not delay England for long and was brilliantly deceived by Anderson bowling wider on the crease and hitting his off-stump.
Having slumped to 203 for eight, Australia were grateful to their last two wickets adding 60 priceless runs to at least give them a veneer of respectability.
Anderson ended Peter Siddle's 32 minutes of defiance when he became the third Australian of the day to edge behind to Prior and end the Lancastrian's stunning spell of five for 13 in 38 balls either side of lunch.
It took Onions to finally end Australia's resistance, however, when last man Ben Hilfenhaus edged to Graeme Swann at gully in mid-afternoon to leave England firmly in the dominant position.
Australia took only 10 balls to respond with Siddle tempting Alastair Cook into pushing outside off-stump and edging behind, leaving an expectant Edgbaston crowd primed for another thriller comparable to four years ago.
Unable to generate the swing that Anderson and Onions enjoyed, Australia were forced to turn to the spin of Nathan Hauritz and allowed Strauss to combine with Ravi Bopara in a 58-run stand with few alarms.
Bopara continued his struggles at number three during the series - his top score is 35 in his four previous innings - by chopping Hilfenhaus onto his stumps for 23 while Ian Bell was fortunate to survive a plumb appeal from Johnson for lbw when he had 18.
Bell survived to reach an unbeaten 26 while Strauss' imperious Ashes form continued to take his tally in the series to 304 runs and guide England into their dominant position.