Australia down England by 33 runs in the 36th match of the ICC World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India, on Saturday and have made their case for the event's semi-final much stronger. The result also meant that defending champions England are knocked out of the event.
The Aussies have now 10 points from seven points and just need a win in their next two matches to qualify for the World Cup semi-final.
Australia started their defence of 287 runs on a high note with Mitchell Starc removing Jonny Bairstow on the first bowl of the innings. The wicketkeeper batter was soon followed by Joe Root, who lost his wicket to the same bowler for just 13 runs.
England got the much-needed relief after losing two wickets with Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes combining for 84 runs before the former became the victim of Australia's skipper Pat Cummins.
Soon after Malan, England's skipper Jos Buttler was trapped by leg-spinner Adam Zampa for just one run. This was the fifth time Zampa removed Buttler in one-day cricket.
However, among all the chaos, Stokes and Moeen Ali stood and it looked like the two left-handed batters would guide their side to their second win of the World Cup but the former, too, was removed by Zampa.
The defending champions kept on losing wickets at intervals and were all-out for 253 runs in 47.5 overs.
Batting first, Australian openers Travis Head and David Warner, who took New Zealand bowlers to the cleaners in the last match, failed to give their side a promising were both out in 5.4 overs, leaving their side at 38-2.
It looked like a certain collapse for the Aussies but Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne saved the day and played valiantly, building a 75-run partnership before the former lost his wicket to Adil Rashid after scoring 45 runs.
However, Labuschagne kept on doing his job and completed his well-deserved half-century as he paired up with Cameroon Green.
Labuschagne fell prey to a quicker by Mark Wood after contributing 71 runs but Green kept going and scored 47 runs, becoming another Aussie batter to miss out on a half-century after Smith.
However, Marcus Stoinis (35) and Adam Zampa (29) contributed to crucial runs during the last overs to Australia and took them to a competitive and defendable total of 286 runs.
Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers for England as the right-armer bagged four important wickets. While Wood and Rashid took two wickets each.