Australia crushed England by 64 runs at Lord's on Tuesday to reach the World Cup semi-finals and leave the hosts in serious danger of failing to reach the last four.

Aussie captain Aaron Finch made 100 to lead his team to a competitive ─ but not imposing total of 285-7 before England slumped to 26-3 in reply.

Ben Stokes defied a calf injury to make 89 but the hosts never seriously threatened to get close to their target, Jason Behrendorff picking up 5 wickets as they were bowled out meekly for 221 in the 45th over.

After being put into bat, Finch and David Warner (53) shared an opening partnership of 123, their fifth 50 stand in a row, but England restricted the Australian scoring rate with tight bowling in the closing overs of their innings.

"There are teams that you have confidence playing against but I have had plenty of low scores against England as well," said Man of the Match Finch. "It was nipping around first thing. We were as tight as we could be and then took advantage of any width."

Australia's 6th win in seven games took the defending champions into the semi-finals while England, the pre-tournament favourites, have now lost three matches and may need to beat India and New Zealand to make the last four.

Australia innings

Finch and David Warner (53) shared a fine first-wicket stand of 123, with Finch earning a reprieve on 15 when James Vince could not hold a tough chance at backward point.

The Australia skipper then looked to up the tempo with a legside 6 off Moeen Ali but the stand was broken in the 23rd over when off-spinner Moeen induced Warner to lob a gentle catch to Joe Root, running round from backward point.

Finch went to his century thanks to a misfield by Chris Woakes but next ball he miscued a hook off Jofra Archer and Woakes made no mistake with the catch at fine leg.

He was out for exactly 100, having faced 116 balls, with 11 4s and two 6s and his exit saw Archer become the tournament's outright leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps.

New batsman Glenn Maxwell hit a 6 and 4 off successive Archer deliveries only to fall for 12 when caught behind trying to 'ramp' Mark Wood.

Smith and Marcus Stoinis were then involved in a mix-up that saw Stoinis run out before Smith was caught in the deep off Woakes for 38.

"To get out straight after a hundred is never ideal," said Finch. "I think there is enough in the wicket. It is still a pretty good score. It wasn't the easiest wicket to start on. The ball was moving for the seamer. We were conscious to get through that and were able to. We could have got a few more runs but we have got to defend it regardless."

England innings

England suffered a top-order collapse as they slumped to 26-3 in chase of the target set by the Aussies.

Jason Behrendorff struck with just the second ball of England's reply, an inswinger bowling struggling opener James Vince for a duck. Fellow left-arm quick Mitchell Starc then took two wickets for 5 runs in 9 balls.

Test skipper Joe Root was plumb LBW to an inswinger for 8 before England captain Eoin Morgan (4) fell into a hooking trap when a top-edge was held safely by Pat Cummins at fine leg.

England had surged to the top of the ODI rankings on the back of their aggressive run-scoring but the worry for Morgan's men is that too many of their top-order appear to know only one way to bat. Jonny Bairstow, for example, fell next to a careless hook off Behrendorff before Stokes and Jos Buttler (25) repaired some of the damage with a fifth-wicket stand of 71.

Buttler was well caught by Usman Khawaja, running round and staying just inside the deep square leg boundary off Marcus Stoinis.

Stokes defiantly hit Glenn Maxwell for two sixes in three balls but, shortly before completing his 50, the all-rounder pulled up with a calf injury.

Starc was brought back to take a key wicket and duly obliged with a thunderbolt yorker, his 18th wicket of the tournament, that ended Stokes's 115-ball innings of 89, including eight 4s and two 6s.

Stokes's dismissal left England 177-6 in the 37th over and effectively ended the contest. Starc ended the match when he dismissed Adil Rashid.

Toss, pre-match chatter

Hosts England won the toss and decided to bowl first against Australia.

"It's not a no-brainer, but we haven't seen much sun down south so it might do a bit this morning," said England Captain Eoin Morgan after choosing to bowl first.

Speaking of beating Australia 5-0 last year, Morgan said: "It builds confidence."

"For a long time we never won anything against Australia, but we have had some success recently and I think we have a good side.

"Jofra is good, he had stiffness in his side and we had a precautionary fitness test. We are confident," he concluded.

"I'm not too disappointed batting," says Aaron Finch. "I wasn't too sure about the wicket, but I would have probably bowled first as well. We've played consistent cricket throughout without being outstanding. If you go too hard you leave yourself open at the back-end against some world-class death bowlers."

"We aren't really bothered about how the crowd react. Every game is crucial and we can't take any lightly," says Finch, while referring to how the crowd might react.

Team lineups

England were unchanged from the side that suffered a surprise 20-run loss to Sri Lanka.

Australia made two changes from the team that Bangladesh by 48 runs in Nottingham, with off-spinner Nathan Lyon replacing leg-spinner Adam Zampa and Jason Behrendorff coming in for fellow paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile.

England

Jonny Bairstow, James Vince, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.

Australia

Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Jason Behrendorff, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon.