Collingwood gives Aussies the first blow …

ENGLAND'S resurgence continued when Paul Collingwood inspired a four-wicket win over Australia in the first tri-series final in Melbourne.

Ravaged by injury, without skipper Michael Vaughan and barely competitive less than two weeks ago, England overcame disastrous starts with both bat and ball before overhauling Australia's 252 to win with three balls to spare.

The second final is in Sydney on Sunday and England is just one win away from a fairytale end to an horrific tour that saw it lose the Ashes 5-0.

Collingwood, himself enjoying a renaissance after struggling since the early part of the tour, scored his second successive century and scored the winning run to finish on 120 not out.

The right hander also scored a hundred and took two wickets in a man-of-the-match performance in the last qualifying game to get England into the finals at the expense of New Zealand.

He batted superbly under pressure on Friday night and his brilliant fielding enabled England to rein in Australia after the home side had made a flying start and looked set to score well in excess of 300.

"To restrict them to 250-odd was a fantastic effort and then when you lose three wickets in a run-chase on a pitch which was hard to score on times was going to be tough,'' stand-in skipper Andrew Flintoff said.

"I can't speak high enough of the way Paul played. In all my time playing one-day cricket for England, wearing the blue shirt, it's the best innings I've seen.

"The way he paced it, his stamina, his concentration - it was a lesson for everyone watching. It's fantastic to see Paul playing like that and all the lads really did appreciate it."

Collingwood took a superb catch to dismiss dangerman Ricky Ponting and end the 138-run stand with Matthew Hayden before claiming two run-outs with brilliant direct hits.

The 30 year old then came in with his side in deep trouble at 3-15 in the chase and set it on the path to victory with a 133-run partnership with Ian Bell (65).

Collingwood, who also teamed with Flintoff (35) for a crucial 74-run stand, worked the ball into the gaps perfectly.

With tension rising in the dying overs, Collingwood showed he was capable of the big shots as he hit several boundaries to ease the pressure.

While England celebrated a third successive win, Australia veteran Glenn McGrath had a horror 37th birthday.

Had he held onto a sitter off Nathan Bracken when Bell was 18 England would have been 4-33.

He finished wicketless, was hit in the head by a ball thrown from the outfield, was smashed back over his head by Collingwood for six, and was also involved in a botched run-out attempt when Flintoff had just come to the crease.

His woes summed up Australia's night, with some crucial chances going down and the England batsmen benefiting from several near misses.

Lee was the only Australia bowler to impress with 3-41 from his 10 overs.

Collingwood's fielding, combined with some fine bowling from Flintoff and spinner Monty Panesar, turned the match on its head during the Australia innings.

At 1-170 in the 31st over on a perfect batting pitch, with Ponting and Hayden both in top form and having added 138, Australia looked to have set the perfect foundation for a late onslaught.

However, Collingwood's superb diving one-handed catch to remove Ponting for 75 was the catalyst for an unexpected collapse by the home side.

Hayden, who made 82 from 102 balls and showed his best form of the tri-series, fell soon after to part-time spinner James Dalrymple, caught on the long-on boundary by Sajid Mahood.

The home side was 3-180 and the innings subsequently unravelled spectacularly, the home side losing its last six wickets for 23 runs in just 37 balls. The last four wickets added just four runs.

Collingwood ran out Michael Clarke (33) by centimetres with a direct hit from mid-off. He also ran out Brett Lee for a duck with another direct hit, this time from gully.

The lionhearted Flintoff bowled impressively to claim the wickets of Mike Hussey, Brad Hogg and McGrath in finishing with 3-41 from 9.3 overs.

Panesar (2-44) chimed in with the crucial wickets of Ponting and Brad Hodge.

Panesar did botch what should have been a simple run out of Hayden when the left hander was 75 and Mahmood dropped a sitter off Hussey, but for once Australia didn't punish the England errors.

Ponting said it was a disappointing night and was concerned at Australia's inability to put together 100 overs in a match.

He said Australia fielded poorly and lost wickets at key times, but denied complacency was to blame.

"I can't see how,'' he said.

"I was keen to put a good performance on the board tonight. It's a final and you want to play your best cricket in finals and we've played our worst game in a long time in a final tonight, so that's the disappointing part for me.''

Ponting was hopeful Australia could respond like it did last summer when it lost the first final to Sri Lanka but bounced back with two wins.

"It's up to us to stop (England's) momentum now and we should have been able to do that today, getting off to the start we did but we let it slide,'' he said.

"The worrying thing for me is lately in games is we haven't put 100 overs together. If we've batted well we haven't bowled well and if we've bowled well we haven't batted well.''

Flintoff said England would enjoy the victory, but was desperate to win again in Sydney.

"We want to take something home and we're in a position now where we can do as long as we keep doing the basics right and believing we can do,'' he said.

Collingwood was happy he succeeded when he took on the responsibility in the dying overs, and agreed the knock was the best of his career.