Michael Vaughan admitted he and the rest of the England team had let century-maker Kevin Pietersen down as a defeat to Australia in Antigua left England needing three wins out of three to avoid a World Cup exit at the Super Eight stage.

Australia triumphed by seven wickets as they comfortably surpassed England's total of 247, which featured 104 from Pietersen and 77 from Ian Bell.

Andrew Flintoff's dismissal of Adam Gilchrist gave them hope but 86 from captain Ricky Ponting, an unbeaten 55 from Michael Clarke and a belligerent run-a-ball 28 from Andrew Symonds saw the Australians home as they gained revenge for defeat in the Commonwealth Bank series Down Under.

Vaughan admitted: ''Around the 30th over we were 160-odd for two and we looked like posting 280-290 and I think on that wicket that would have been a really competitive total but at 247 we were still in the game, but Ricky played a tremendous innings and Michael Clarke saw them home so full credit to Australia, but I thought it was an area that we could have won today.''

Asked whether too many batsmen were struggling for form, Vaughan added: ''That's probably right. Not many of us are playing that well but Kevin Pietersen's 100 was fantastic and you always want a guy who gets a hundred to be on the winning side and we didn't play well enough around him to get that 280-290. We are going to have to win the last three games now to reach the semis.''

Australia captain Ponting added: ''It was a pretty tight game right the way through, Kevin Pietersen and Bell played beautifully and I thought the difference in the game today was the intensity when things weren't going well for us. Our fielding was great right the way through and our bowlers did a terrific job.

Clarke, whose unbeaten 55 helped Australia home said: ''I found it very hard to score but Ricky made my job easier.

''Our bowlers did a fantastic job and we managed to pull it back in the end.

"We got a great start from Gilchrist and (Matthew) Hayden which gave us help further down the order and made my life a lot easier. Symonds played fantastic cricket. He hasn't had much time out in the middle and it's good to see him in some form.''

*Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar described his team's Super Eight victory over South Africa as one of the great sporting moments in his country's history. Bangladesh, ranked ninth in the world, beat the world number ones by 67 runs at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

It was their second upset of the tournament, following a five-wicket success over India in the group stage.

''After we beat India, it was hard to keep our feet on the ground but we have shown that we are a focused group because we have been able to follow up with another incredible performance,'' he said.

Bangladesh made 251 for eight and dismissed South Africa for 184 with eight balls left.

Bashar, added: ''We were initially looking for between 230-240, so to get to 251 was a bonus. We felt it was a good, competitive total and our bowlers really stuck to their task. We always felt South Africa would have to come good after that, particularly as the wicket was a lot slower."