LONDON (AP) - As with cornered animals, so it goes with sports teams. Box them tightly into a corner and one of two things can happen: fight or flight.

But who, honestly, expected England to fight like this?

In one devastating afternoon Friday of bowling on a wicket crumbling like over-baked oatmeal flapjack, captain Andrew Strauss’ squad - written off one minute, darlings of the nation the next - reshaped the course of the Ashes. The outcome of a six-week series of five matches seemingly decided in just two hours.

England haven’t quite, at least not yet, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat that many had predicted for them. But they put themselves in a position to do so - in what will rank as one of the more remarkable wins in the Ashes’ 127-year history.

Those who fear that test cricket’s days are numbered, that the limited-overs version of the game is destined to steal away fans’ hearts and advertisers’ money, should rejoice at this absorbing encounter.

Only five-day games provide so many twists, subplots and depth of drama - although, given how Australia is succumbing at The Oval, this match will be over well before the umpires call time.

To pin Australia’s slump on its captain, Ricky Ponting, would be unfair. This was a collective failure. But Ponting made a crucial error in deciding not to play his leading spin bowler Nathan Hauritz on The Oval’s unusually dry and dusty pockmarked wicket. Ponting must have looked on enviously Friday as off-spinner Graeme Swann exploited the turn and uneven bounce so effectively for England, taking 4 for 38.

It’s easy to say that sporting heroes are born from the type of desperate situation that England faced going into this test. A must-win game, for a team weakened by injury and doubt after a crushing defeat in the penultimate test at Headingley tied the series on one-match apiece and handed Australia the momentum.

But to be a hero, someone has to step up. Someone has to seize the moment, shrug off the pressure and put in the big performance.

Often, no one does and hopes are dashed.

Sometimes, more rarely, they do.

On Friday, that man was Stuart Broad.

More importantly than simply taking wickets, he gave England hope. He triggered the Australian batting collapse, with the first four wickets in a 21-ball burst at a cost of just eight runs.

He finished with five for 37. Broad also took six for 91 in England’s disaster at Headingley, but his performance at The Oval was better and far more important.

As the wickets tumbled, a renewed belief in England flowed into the ground. The partisan crowd, until then so studiously subdued, roared. Broad, who is strikingly handsome with his blond hair and blue eyes, doffed his blue cap to acknowledge the applause.

He sent Ponting back to the dressing room for just 8 runs. There, the Australian captain furiously chewed the nails of both hands as Australia slumped to 160 all out.

"It was hard to stop the momentum," said opener Simon Katich, Australia’s high scorer on 50 and one of just four who reached double-figures.

Based on this performance, England may have found its replacement for Andrew Flintoff.

Like Flintoff, 23-year-old Broad clearly has a sense for the big occasion. He has proved in this series that he can add useful runs, too. He is ambitiously eyeing the No.7 spot in the England batting order that Flintoff will relinquish when he retires from test cricket after this series.

England can give thanks to the teenage growth spurt that transformed Broad into the 1.95-meter (6-foot, 6-inch) giant he is now. While his bowling lacks the venom that Flintoff unleashes at his best, Broad’s height gives him fearsome penetration with the ball.

"I grew nearly a foot in a year," Broad told the Guardian newspaper. "That must have been fate because it changed me from a batsman to a bowler and then within a year I was playing international cricket."

Australian expectations had been so high before this match that Ponting had joked about his team needing an open-top train to celebrate in. Ponting will now surely be asking that it has blacked-out windows, instead.