BIRMINGHAM: There will be ramifications for individual careers after Australia crumbled for the second time in 24 hours to be on the verge of defeat early on the third day of the third Ashes Test, although England's joy at taking a 2-1 series lead will be tempered by a side strain suffered by their first-innings hero, James Anderson.

England, hammered by 405 runs only 11 days before, have all but completed the most stunning of turnarounds, playing on their opponents' vulnerabilities against the moving ball to leave the deflated tourists 7-168 in their second innings, a lead of just 23.

Only David Warner (77 from 62 balls) and Peter Nevill (37 not out from 117), with contributions of vastly different style, stood up in a second innings that turned very ugly when the recalled Steven Finn (5-45) tore the batting order to pieces with four big wickets either side of the tea break on Thursday. Nevill's stubborn resistance took the match into a third day just as it seemed likely Australia would fold in two for the first time in 125 years. but even though his intransigence was admirable, and justified his retention here, it merely delayed the inevitable.

While a two-day Test was averted it's still a good thing for Warwickshire, the Edgbaston landlords, that they're insured against short matches given the thousands of pints of lager that will go undrunk and the tickets that will have to be refunded.

The only drama then for England rests with Anderson, who walked off in the afternoon holding his side. The brevity of this match means he would have longer to get over any injury in time for the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, starting in a week, but there were suggestions that he would take no further part in the series. That would be a major blow for England.

Australia, of course, have their own serious problems and they start at the top. Michael Clarke, plainly, looks cooked. Adam Voges probably won't play Test cricket again. Mitchell Starc was all over the shop with the ball.

Voges, having scored only 73 runs at 14.6 in this series following his match-winning hundred on debut in the Caribbean last month, will no doubt be the fall guy for Australia's middle order woes. Shaun Marsh has been waiting for an opportunity and will get one at Trent Bridge. Voges, like Ed Cowan at Lord's two years ago, may well have has his Test career ended by a golden duck to Finn.

Leaving him out in the fourth Test will, of course, hardly iron out Australia's issues beyond the top three, which appear to have been disguised by the big centuries compiled by Steve Smith and Chris Rogers in the thrashing of England on a flat Lord's pitch.

They have a significant one on their hands with the form, or lack thereof, of Clarke. He hasn't gone past 38 in this series and was out twice in the space of 21 balls at Edgbaston. In only four matches in his long career has he lasted for fewer deliveries. His Test average, as if representative of his decline, dropped under 50 with his demise on Thursday for the first time since 2012.

Dropping the captain midway through the Ashes would be difficult to do - to do that they'd have to replace him with Shane Watson, which would be a staggering turn of events - but with each failure here it's only becoming more clear that Clarke is very close to the end and he must surely know it.

Australia, as hard as it is to believe, had approached the tea break on Thursday with just a hint of optimism despite losing Rogers (6) cheaply, lbw to Stuart Broad.

Warner, determining it was either his way or the highway, stroked the equal fastest fifty for an Australian in Ashes history, from 35 balls and looked untroubled as he sought to write off a 145-run first-innings deficit established when England were bowled out for 281.

Any ambitions they had of staging an almighty comeback, however, were blown out of the water by Finn. In a destructive eight-over spell either side of the day's second intermission he brought down Smith (8), Clarke (3), Voges (0) and Mitchell Marsh (6). Finn bowled very well and quick - the back-to-back deliveries that removed Clarke and Voges were at 153km/h - but was hardly unplayable. The batsmen were just as responsible for their downfall as he was.

Smith mis-timed a pull shot off the resurgent quick to fall to him for the second time in the match, Clarke, never looking comfortable, edged him to Adam Lyth in the slips, Voges was caught in the cordon first ball to leave Finn on a hat-trick and Marsh drove around a full one to be clean bowled.

Much like Rogers in the first innings Warner, despite his best efforts, could only watch on as an eyewitness to the carnage, Mitchell Johnson's snorter to Jonny Bairstow to claim his 300th Test wicket earlier in the day a distant memory.