Matthew Hoggard took four wickets in two devastating spells to reduce Australia to 312 for five in their first innings and put England in control of the second Ashes Test after three days at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
Hoggard dismissed Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn before lunch to leave Australia teetering at 65-3 then claimed the crucial scalps of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey in the last hour before stumps after they had launched a fightback.
Ponting followed up his 196 and 60 not out from the first Test in Brisbane with 142 to register his 33rd test hundred and pass Steve Waugh as Australia's most prolific centurion.
Hussey made a watchful 91 to continue his remarkable start to his Test career.
The pair shared a 192-run partnership for the fourth-wicket but departed in quick succession to leave Michael Clarke (30 not out) and Adam Gilchrist (13 not out) to carry through to stumps with Australia 239 behind England's daunting total of 551-6 and needing another 40 to avoid the follow-on.
A draw is looming as the most likely result with two days to play on a docile pitch although England will have a chance to push for victory if they can polish off the Australian innings early on Monday.
The tourists, who have improved dramatically since they were crushed by 277 runs in last week's first Test in Brisbane, might have been in an even better position had they not missed two early chances to dismiss Ponting.
He was dropped on 35 by a leaping Ashley Giles at deep square leg then survived a suicidal run on 46 when Paul Collingwood missed with a shy at the stumps and he made them pay dearly for their misses.
PASSES WAUGH
The 31-year-old grew in confidence after his two close shaves, pulling James Anderson for four in the last over before lunch to reach his half-century then recorded his hundred just before tea, off 183 balls in 266 minutes, scampering through for a single off Andrew Flintoff.
Ponting's century was his seventh in 2006 and his 10th from his last 13 Tests and lifted him into outright fourth on the all-time list of century makers behind Sachin Tendulkar (35) and Brian Lara (34) and Sunil Gavaskar (34).
He faced 245 balls over 353 minutes and struck 12 boundaries before nicking Hoggard behind to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones when England took the second new ball late in the day.
Hussey, who averages 77 with the bat from the 13 Tests he has played, struck seven fours and a six in a chanceless 212-ball innings but fell short of a hundred when he dragged a rising ball from Hoggard off the toe of his bat and onto his stumps.
Hoggard was easily the best of the English bowlers, capturing all four wickets that fell on the day to finish with figures of 4-76 from 27 overs.
The Yorkshireman dismissed Hayden with the total on 35 before the left-handed opener had added to his overnight score of 12 with a delivery that moved sharply off the pitch and caught the edge on the way through to Jones.
Martyn batted 42 minutes for his 11 but gave his wicket away when he fended a low catch to Ian Bell at gully, playing forward and away from his body to a shortish delivery from Hoggard.
