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England 's path to the World Cup semi-final became much more challenging following a disappointing 64-run loss against Australia at Lord's, their third defeat of the tournament and second in a row.
The hosts remain on eight points with India and New Zealand still to play, while Bangladesh lie one point below and Sri Lanka are two points shy of England with one game in hand.
England may have initially felt that limiting Australia to 285 after sending them in to bat gave them a good chance of winning, but James Vince, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan's early departures for a combined 12 runs left too much for the middle order to do on their own.
Aaron Finch built on his 123-run opening partnership with David Warner, who fell for 53, and made his second century of the tournament off 116 balls before England rattled through the middle order and tailenders.
Vince falling for a second ball duck set the tone for England's innings, where Ben Stokes' 89 was the only positive.
Show all 23 1 /23Player ratings from England vs Australia Player ratings from England vs Australia Australia won by 64 runs
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Player ratings from England vs Australia James Vince 1 Another failure, a two-ball duck, beaten by Behrendorff’s pace and swing. A poor shot. So proficient at county level and with undoubted promise, but yet to make his presence known internationally, and you wonder if he ever will.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Jonny Bairstow 3 Some eye-catching strokes in a 27 that seemed destined to be more, timing the ball wonderfully until a curiously-played pull to a ball going away from him settled into the hands of deep midwicket.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Joe Root 3 Mitchell Starc was simply too quick and too good for an uncharacteristically insecure Root, like Vince beaten by a vicious inswinger at real pace. Australia’s opening pair showed the merits of pitching the ball up in conditions aiding the bowlers.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Eoin Morgan 5 Captained well, using his bowlers intelligently to drag England back into the game as it threatened to slip away. A disappointment with the bat, again showing vulnerability against short and sharp bowling early on, caught at fine leg off Starc.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Ben Stokes 8 Brilliant with ball and bat. Looked the most potent of England’s seamers as the ball softened, removing Khawaja with a middle-stump missile. A quite magnificent knock in tough circumstances with the bat before Starc produced an unplayable yorker. Hopefully the calf issue was just cramp on a muggy day.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Jos Buttler 5 A steadying 25 after England’s top order disaster but they needed Buttler to go deeper into the innings in tandem with Stokes. A very poor missed stumping to give Khawaja a reprieve off Rashid docks him a point. The errors with the gloves seem to be coming more and more frequently.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Moeen Ali 4 Another disappointing outing for Moeen, who came in after the horse had bolted, rather, and did little in the way of retrieving it. England’s most expensive bowler, though he did manage to pry a well-set Warner with a kicking off-break.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Chris Woakes 7 Just about England’s best with the ball, unlucky to go wicketless in his new ball spell (though perhaps guilty of bowling too short on the whole) and returning strongly at the death. Showed some fight with the willow.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Adil Rashid 7 Probably Rashid’s best spell of the tournament on a pitch that didn’t offer too much for him to play with, ticking along beneath five-an-over despite an expensive first six balls and getting through his entire allocation. Had some fun with the bat, too.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Jofra Archer 6 Like Woakes he can consider himself unlucky that one of Australia’s many false shots in the first powerplay did not produce a wicket, but his natural back-of-a-length style was not ideal in conditions that looked to favour fuller bowling.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Mark Wood 6 Loose in his first spell, much better in his second, but on the whole a touch expensive and like England’s other seamers generally too short.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Aaron Finch 8 out of 10 Battled his way to 50, built impressively to 100, but the post-ton explosion Australia needed never came as Archer bounced him out, Finch perhaps guilty of losing focus after reaching the landmark.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia David Warner 7 A composed 50 after surviving Archer and Woakes’ tests early on. Out tamely to Moeen Ali soon after, however, when well set.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Usman Khawaja 5 Never looked truly comfortable at the crease and played right around a full and straight ball from Ben Stokes that thumped into middle stump. Redeemed himself in the field with a brilliant grab on the square-leg boundary to dismiss Buttler.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Steve Smith 6 Looked good as wickets tumbled around him but fell before he could cash in. Two missed run-outs blighted his effort in the field.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Glenn Maxwell 5 It hasn’t quite happened for Maxwell with the bat in the World Cup so far. Two thumping pulls off Archer promised much, a tame dismissal to Wood delivered little. Smart work on the boundary to hand Finch a catch and end Woakes’ cameo.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Marcus Stoinis 6 Sold down the river a little by Smith as he charged back to the danger end for a second that was almost certainly there. It mightn’t have mattered – Stoinis never found his stride. Coaxed Aaron Finch into a woeful review with ball-in-hand but broke the crucial partnership of Stokes and Buttler in slightly fortuitous fashion.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Alex Carey 7 A very useful cameo to lift Australia over 280. There’s an argument to be made that the keeper-batsman should come in ahead of Stoinis – he certainly looks in better touch.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Mitchell Starc 9 Exceptional. A brilliant new-ball burst, executing his plans perfectly to snare Root then Morgan, before producing the most perfect of yorkers to rid England of Stokes. On track to be leading wicket-taker at consecutive World Cups – he’s a special bowler.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Jason Behrendorff 9 Justified his inclusion with a lovely five-fotr. Hooping inswinger at pace to snare Vince early on, before switching ends and getting Bairstow with the short ball. Behrendorff’s new ball ability deepens the Australia attack. Returned later on to grab three more and his best ODI figures, superb ones of 5-44 at that.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Nathan Lyon 7 Competent and constricting. Australia didn’t need him to be too potent today, and he made sure the pressure stayed on.
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Player ratings from England vs Australia Pat Cummins 6 Somewhat unbothersome to the England batsmen, oddly, but tough to consistently score from in a slightly different role with Behrendorff into the side.
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See how we rated the players in the gallery above.
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