A sensational 189 from Zak Crawley, the highest score by an Englishman in a home Ashes clash in 26 years, helped the hosts post 384-four, as they stormed past Australia's first innings total and into a 67-run lead after a remarkable day two of the fourth Test.

With rain forecast over the weekend, England know they are in a race against time to get the win they need to level the series and they produced a blistering display of aggressive shotmaking that was too hot for a shellshocked Australia.

After taking the final two wickets to bowl Australia out for 317 at the start of the day, Crawley, ably supported by Moeen Ali and Joe Root, became the series' top run scorer with his huge knock.

In scenes rarely seen in this format of the game, England raced along, scoring at a rate of 5.33 per over, the fourth fastest ever, for an innings of five overs or more, against Australia by any side in test cricket history.

Crawley had hit just one six all series before coming to the crease on Thursday, but three hits sailed over the Old Trafford boundary, alongside 21 fours, as he scored at over a run a ball throughout to swing the momentum once more in England's favour.

England's hero from the last test, Harry Brook, and captain Ben Stokes kept the boundaries flowing to extend the lead and they will look to ramp things up even more on Friday as home side looks to secure a quick-fire success.

"Every Ashes knock is important but I was very pleased with how I played, how it went and the position we're in at the moment in the series, fighting back nicely," Crawley said.

"I rode my luck at times but I played some nice shots along the way. I probably wouldn’t be playing in this series under any other coach or any other captain, so to be backed by them gives me a lot of confidence," he added.

"We are just trying to control what we can control. We have shown that it suits our players to be positive." (Reuters)