The press had already been sharpening their knives for some of Australia's middle order despite their win at Lord's and like everyone else, the Australian and English press can't quite believe what's occurred in the third test at Edgbaston.
Headlines around the world:
Daily Telegraph: We're losing the Test, Poms just lost their leader
Sydney Morning Herald: Oh, for last week's good old days
The Australian: Aussies heading for a flogging
Daily Mail: England on brink of taking 2-1 Ashes lead as reborn Finn blasts out Australia's top order in the epic at Edgbaston
BBC Sport: Australia were pathetic - Boycott
Yorkshiremen Geoffrey Boycott, never short of blunt word or two, described Australia's performance as "pathetic" and "embarrassing."
He said on BBC Sport: "They are novices at playing the moving ball. It was an embarrassing day for Australia. Their batting was as pathetic as it was in the first innings."
Boycott said the under fire Australia captain Michael Clarke is "under the cosh" and "lucky to be averaging 18."
Ben Horne from the Aussie press wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "Australia's Ashes campaign is in utter crisis after capitulating to the brink of one of their most humiliating defeats, with the only reason for optimism the possibility of not having to face Jimmy Anderson again for the rest of the series."
The only thing Australia appear to be clinging to is the fact that England's star seamer Anderson left the field with a side strain.
Given the length of this test match, he will have a longer recovery period than normal with the fourth test starting next Thursday.
Horne added: " It now seems inevitable it will be Australia's most crushing ever defeat in terms of the least amount of overs to be played in a match."
Australian captain Michael Clarke doesn't escape criticism from anywhere.
Chris Barrett wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald: "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.
"There will be ramifications for individual careers after Australia crumbled for the second time in 24 hours to be on the cusp 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."
Anderson again a focus for the Australians. Have they forgotten that Steven Finn has returned from nowhere? He's already taken five wickets in Australia's second innings to justify his return to test cricket after two years away.
The turnaround still beggars belief and the Daily Mail's Paul Newman sums up the mad first two days perfectly.
He wrote: "Has this happened? Have we really witnessed two of the most extraordinary and, frankly, ridiculous days of test cricket that have left England on the brink of one of their most famous of all victories over Australia? It appears we have.
"There have already been enough twists and turns in this extraordinary Ashes to last a lifetime but whatever happens at Trent Bridge and the Oval surely nothing in this series will surpass two never to be forgotten days at Edgbaston."
Any Englishman will tell you it's not over yet. Have you watched England before? Anything's possible. Literally anything. In 24 hours we could be talking about another crazy change of fortunes. But I doubt it.
