Defending 152 on a worn track, England guaranteed their place in the best-of-three finals when they forced Australia to take more than 40 overs to win the game.

Pressure was exerted after James Anderson returned the most economical one-day figures for an England bowler in more than a decade.

Bowling straight through, Lancashire youngster Anderson finished with figures of 10-6-12-1 to restrict Australia's pursuit.

It was the best return since Ian Botham finished with two for 12 off his full allotment of overs against Pakistan on the same ground during the 1992 World Cup.

The hosts re-grouped after England struck two early blows through 20-year-old Anderson and veteran Andrew Caddick.

Damien Martyn and Michael Bevan - two of the experienced members in a fledgling Australian side - combined after they slipped to five for two in the third over.

First, Jimmy Maher tickled a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart off Anderson.

Then, a delivery of full length by Caddick drew Adam Gilchrist, stand-in captain of the Aussies, forward and Marcus Trescothick held on at first slip.

However, Martyn and Bevan negotiated a testing spell as Australia scored at less than two-an-over for the first 15.

They increased the rate steadily and the third-wicket pair had put on 91 in 30 overs when the left-handed Bevan drilled a sweep to Nick Knight at square leg off Ian Blackwell's slow left-arm bowling.

That was the first of four mid-innings wickets for eight runs in four overs as Blackwell finished with three for 26.

But debutant Michael Clarke, 21, led the Australians home with an unbeaten 39.

Earlier, Collingwood's unbeaten half-century repaired a disastrous collapse to a reserve Australia attack.

Collingwood's 106-ball 63 not out provided some respectability to an innings undermined by some loose strokes at the top of the order.

But he received scant support in the searing South Australian heat, with temperatures breaking 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Playing on the same strip that England beat Sri Lanka on Friday night, both Trescothick and Michael Vaughan edged wide balls behind the wicket off Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams respectively.

Then left-armer Bracken, who finished with three for 21, defeated Hussain with a slower ball while Gilchrist held his third catch, on the run, when Knight top-edged a pull.

From 40 for four, Collingwood dug in alongside Stewart but the latter's defiance was over when he drilled Shane Watson to short cover where Maher took a spectacular catch to his left.

Watson then bowled Blackwell, who made nought once again, off a thick inside.

Ronnie Irani shared 45 runs for the seventh wicket with Durham's Collingwood before he became Clarke's first international victim.

Attempting to hit Clarke's occasional left-arm spin for a boundary, Irani failed to clear Bevan, who held a waist-high catch at long-on.

Clarke then finished the innings with a direct throw from mid-off that beat Matthew Hoggard's lunge for the line, after Brad Hogg struck twice.