England has knocked Australia out of the ICC Champions trophy in yet another rain affected match in the UK.
Ben Stokes (102 not out) was the star for the hosts, as the old enemy reached 4-240 after 40 overs, which as enough to see them announced as the winners via the Duckworth-Lewis system, following Australia's 9-277.
Needing a win to advance to the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, following two successive washouts, Steve Smith's men were sent into bat at Edgebaston, a ground in which Australia had never beaten the old enemy in an ODI.
Dave Warner and Aaron Finch started off in their usual swashbuckling ways, with a quickfire opening stand of 40 runs off seven overs, before Warner was dismissed for 21 from 25 balls.
Smith (56) and Finch (68) then put on a 94-run stand, as the pair put Australia into a solid position. However, when both fell in quick succession, as has often been the case with the Australian middle order of late, things went down hill quickly.
Travis Head continued his good form in the international set-up, but he struggled to find partners able to stay out in the middle with him.
Head remained unbeaten on 71 at the close of the innings, however, Glenn Maxwell (20), Moises Henriques (17) and Matthew Wade (2) all failed.
Australia's tail also provided little resistance, with Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa both dismissed without scoring, while Pat Cummins scored just four.
Mitchell Starc gave Australia the perfect start, removing Jason Roy in the very first over for just four runs.
It got better from there, with Josh Hazlewood dismissing Alex Hales for a duck to make it 2-6.
Joe Root was dismissed for just 15 shortly after, putting Australia in a strong position at 3-35.
However, that's where the good news stopped for Australia. From there, it was all England, as Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes put on a 159-run partnership to take the game away from the Aussies.
Morgan was run out for 87 in the 32nd over, but the damage was already done.
Stokes, who remained unbeaten on 102 from 109 balls, continued on his merry way, smashing 13 fours and two sixes and was helped by Jos Butler (29) at the end of the innings.
However, rain affected Australia's match for the third time in as many games.
After 40.2 overs, with England 4-240, the rain set in and brought the game to a premature end. But England were 42 runs ahead of where they needed to be at that stage of the game for the Duckworth-Lewis system and won the game.
The defeat knocks Australia out of the tournament, while England, who were already guaranteed a semi-final spot, finish top of the group. "(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));(U[1]):"",();||void 0===time){/1e3+86400),.('')}
