England fell to a 64-run defeat in their crucial Cricket World Cup clash against Australia at Lord's - a result that puts their progress through to the semi-finals in real jeopardy.
SCORECARD | AS IT HAPPENED | TABLE
Chasing 286 on a green pitch at the home of cricket, England faltered to 26-3 inside six overs; a superb 89 from Ben Stokes hinted at a recovery, only for a stunning Mitchell Starc yorker to bowl him and end England's resistance - the hosts ultimately falling well short, bowled out for 221.
Earlier, Australia battled to 285-7, with England's bowlers guilty of bowling too short in their opening spells and not making best use of the helpful conditions after Eoin Morgan won the toss, though they did drag things back well with a flurry of late wickets.
Australia captain Aaron Finch struck a magnificent hundred, sharing a century stand with David Warner (53) - booed, along with Steve Smith (38), by the Lord's crowd - as the opening pair repelled the early threat. But Finch fell the very next ball after bringing up his ton, as Australia lost six wickets for 86 runs - and scored just 70 off the last 10 overs.
Aaron Finch struck a fine century in testing conditions at Lord's
The total still proved too great for England, however, with Jason Behrendorff (5-44) - a maiden five-for in only his eighth ODI - and Mitchell Starc (4-43) making inroads in bowling that fuller, testing length that England failed to.
James Vince was bowled second ball by a beauty from Behrendorff, swinging back in and beating him through the gate, while Joe Root (8) was undone by an almost identical delivery from Starc which trapped him lbw.
Morgan and Jonny Bairstow, meanwhile, were the makers of their own downfall, both taking on short balls as England tried to stay true to the positive brand of cricket that has taken them to No 1 in the world since the last World Cup.
Stokes led the recovery, reaching fifty despite badly suffering with cramp and sharing half-century stands with both Jos Buttler (25) and Chris Woakes (26). But, with the score at 177 in the 37th over, Starc produced a bit of magic to beat Stokes' defences and knock back his off peg.
Mitchell Starc took four wickets, including the key strike of Ben Stokes to a perfect yorker
Defeat now leaves England in danger of another World Cup group-stage exit, the same fate that befell them four years ago. They need wins from both of their final group games against unbeaten India and New Zealand, or other results to go their way.
England, though short with their lengths in the opening exchanges at Lord's, too lacked a little bit of luck as there were plenty of played and misses from the Australian openers, with Woakes particularly unfortunate not to be rewarded for a probing opening spell.
The closest England came to an early strike was when Finch was put down by Vince at backward point on 15, off Jofra Archer. In truth, it shouldn't count as a drop, Vince putting in a terrific diving effort at backward point as the ball flew to his right off Finch's outside edge.
Vince's effort aside though, England were sloppy in the field early on, the odd dozy misfield creeping in - much like it did in the defeat to Pakistan - and costing valuable runs.
Finch and Warner both brought up fifties and a total of 300 plus looked on the cards until Moeen Ali claimed the latter with one that just held up in the pitch a touch - Warner through the shot early, popping up a simple catch to point.
A missed stumping from Buttler in the 28th over looked like it might be costly, giving Usman Khawaja a reprieve on nine, but Stokes bowled him soon after for 23 as England began to fight back.
Finch was the next to fall, top-edging Archer to Woakes, a ball after a misfield from the same man at fine leg allowed him to run two to reach his century and keep the strike.
Glenn Maxwell (12) came and went after a brief cameo, Marcus Stoinis (8) was run out after mix-up with Smith, while he and Pat Cummins fell in the closing overs to Woakes (2-46) - finally rewarded for his earlier efforts. Alex Carey, meanwhile, played nicely in striking an unbeaten 38 from 27 balls.
England carried a bit of momentum with them into their innings but that was swiftly wrestled back by Australia courtesy of Behrendorff's second-ball strike and Starc dismissing key men Root and Morgan.
Jason Behrendorff claimed a maiden ODI five-for
Bairstow briefly rebuilt with Stokes before he attempted to pull a short ball from Behrendorff that was too wide outside off, top-edging it out to Cummins in the deep as a result.
Stokes counter-attacked through to fifty but, shortly after bringing up his half-century, he crucially lost his partner at the other end, Buttler picking out the man on the deep backward-square boundary when taking on Stoinis.
Woakes provided more useful support for Stokes, but when he was cleaned up by Starc's superb yorker, England's hopes of pulling off an unlikely victory vanished with him - the hosts skittled in 44.4 overs.
Watch continued coverage of the World Cup as New Zealand play Pakistan at Edgbaston, live on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup (404) from 10am on Wednesday.
