England slump after positive start

England's hopes of setting a major total in the final World Cup warm-up match against Australia was frustrated by a lower-innings collapse at Arnos Vale.

Aiming to claim a fourth successive victory over Australia - even though Friday's match is classed as a practice game - England were progressing nicely with captain Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell sharing a 116-run stand.

They guided them to a promising 122 for one at around the halfway stage of their innings, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, before slumping to 197 out.

Vaughan and Bell's partnership was the perfect platform for their big-hitters to take advantage and propel them to an intimidating score.

But instead of building on that promising start, England folded when confronted with chinaman bowler Brad Hogg, whose introduction prompted a mini-collapse of three wickets in as many overs, and they lost their momentum to be dismissed for 197.

Earlier, Bell and Vaughan both progressed comfortably to half-centuries, the latter easing fears about his suspect hamstring to reach the landmark first and forcing Australian captain Ricky Ponting to try five different bowlers inside the first 13 overs.

The turning point of the innings came with the introduction of Hogg, who quickly dismissed Vaughan (62) and Bell (56).

Andrew Flintoff (13), Kevin Pietersen (4) and Paul Collingwood (18) failed to build on England's promising start as Shaun Tait finished with figures of four for 33.