By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent

Andrew Flintoff produced a magnificent all-round performance. He evokes so many memories of Ian Botham that it is impossible not to compare the two.

Andrew Flintoff was England's hero on day three at Edgbaston

But this is a fantastic cricketer in his own right, and the description 'Bothamesque' really should be replaced now by 'Flintoffesque'.

He injured his left shoulder early in his innings, which seemed to hinder his batting for a while. But a pain-relieving injection did the trick.

He hit four massive sixes when he had little option but to go for his shots - one landing among the television cameras on top of the pavilion - as he and Simon Jones added 51 priceless runs for the last wicket.

He then bowled with more hostility than anyone else for three well-deserved wickets.

When Michael Vaughan threw the ball to Andrew Flintoff to bowl the 13th over. Up until that moment, Australia had looked quite comfortable and the openers had put on 47.

There had been some raised eyebrows that Flintoff had not been given the new ball, because he would still have been ticking after his remarkable innings.

Justin Langer survived the hat-trick ball (Flintoff had taken the last two wickets of Australia's first innings with successive deliveries) but the next beat him for pace and ricocheted into his stumps from his elbow.

Ricky Ponting was given a torrid time. He was rapped on the pads twice before he edged the last ball of the over - a beautiful delivery - to Geraint Jones.

The crowd came alive and, for the first time, England looked as if they really believed they could win the match.

Mind you, the astonishing slower ball that Steve Harmison produced to bamboozle Michael Clarke at the end of the day was a gem.

Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell might both have been victims of poor umpiring decisions.

Pietersen aimed to sweep Shane Warne, and the ball hit pad, arm and body - but not his glove or bat.

Umpire Koertzen raised his finger tortuously slowly and Pietersen walked off without demur, but he was definitely unlucky.

Bell followed in Warne's next over, the ball appearing to spin across the face of the bat.

Again, the umpire's finger appeared and Bell's promising innings of 21 came to an end. The snickometer suggested the ball had not made contact with Bell's bat.

The dismissal of Clarke to the last ball of the day has pushed the game very much England's way.