Ashley Giles and Simon Jones took three wickets apiece to have Australia reeling on 210 for seven Friday, still needing 35 runs to avoid the follow-on in the third test.
Shane Warne was unbeaten on 45 and Jason Gillespie was not out 4 at stumps on the second day, replying to England's 444.
The last time England enforced a follow-on in the Ashes was in November 1986, when it won by seven wickets at Brisbane en route to a 2-1 series win.
PHOTO: AFP
Australia rebounded in 1989 to win the series 4-0 and has held the Ashes ever since.
But Australia's aura of invincibility is on the wane. The English players are looking sharper in the field and their five-man bowling attack has unnerved the Australian batsmen.
Since losing the series-opener at Lord's by 239 runs last month, England has dominated all but one of the next six days of cricket.
The English won by two runs at Edgbaston on Sunday -- the narrowest win ever in Ashes history -- to level the five-match series 1-1.
Warne scored 42 in Australia's second innings at Edgbaston as the last two partnerships added 104 runs to get within three wins of an improbable win. Brett Lee, who is next in for Australia, scored an unbeaten 43 in that rearguard fightback.
Giles said England can't afford to let the pressure off this time.
"We can't ease off the accelerator -- this is crunch time and this test match is vital," he said. "We've got to keep a lid on [the excitement] and focus on doing what we need to do ... taking wickets."
England hasn't led an Ashes series since 1997, when it opened with a win and a draw before Australia rallied to retain cricket's oldest prize.
"We're behind in the game at this stage, [but] there's always been a lot of fight in the Australian team," said Australia coach John Buchanan. "We've got three days to arrest the situation and turn it around."
Buchanan compared England's ability for backup bowlers to take big wickets with a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat.
"It's terrible from our point of view," he said. "Everybody talks about [Steve] Harmison and [Andrew] Flintoff, then you get these two rabbits coming out and taking three wickets each."
England captain Michael Vaughan ensured his team carried the momentum from Edgbaston to Old Trafford when he won the toss Thursday, elected to bat and then contributed 166 -- the first hundred of the series -- in a first-day total of 341-5.
Flintoff belted 46 in an 87-run partnership with Geraint Jones (42) to boost England to 433-6 on the second morning, but his lofted catch to Justin Langer off Warne triggered a collapse. England lost its last four wickets for 11 runs.
Warne exploited some patches of rough in a late spell that netted two wickets in 11 balls and finished with 4-99.
He'd had Marcus Trescothick caught behind on Thursday to become the first bowler to take 600 test wickets. He added three more on Friday.
Giles, a left-arm fingerspinner, reveled in similar conditions, returning 3-66 in 21 overs unchanged on Friday evening. Simon Jones took 3-30 at the other end.
Giles started the slide, breaking Australia's best opening stand of the series by removing Justin Langer (31) with the total at 58.
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