ENGLAND suffered another World Cup defeat last night, going down to a seven-wicket defeat to Australia.

An unbeaten 55 by Michael Clarke, on the back of Ricky Ponting's 86, meant the Aussies were hardly troubled in their persuit of England's 247.

Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell looked like they were going to rack up a big tally when England batted first, but the rest of the battling line-up failed again.

Paul Collingwood struck with his first ball to reignite England's bid.

Durham all-rounder Collingwood snuck a delivery past Matthew Hayden's prod forward to brush off-stump just as Australia were getting away from their Ashes rivals in a chase of 248.

Strangely Hayden stood his ground as England's players celebrated the demise of a second Australian batsman - they had reached 107 for two after 25 overs of the chase.

Flintoff renewed his hold over Adam Gilchrist to give England a vital first breakthrough.

All-rounder Flintoff, who tormented Gilchrist throughout the Ashes summer of 2005, came into the attack in the 11th over after Australia made a solid start at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

The 29-year-old made an immediate impact as a slower ball spooned to point off a checked drive.

England threw away the initiative earlier in the day as they slumped from 164 for two in the 30th over.

Although Pietersen held things together with his fourth one-day international hundred, and first for more than two years, it was his separation from Bell (77) that triggered a spectacular demise.

Australian new-ball pair Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken were particularly impressive, picking up wickets at the start and finish of the innings respectively.

Left-handed openers Gilchrist and Hayden ploughed into England's attack with some crushing strokes against the new ball.

Hayden was fortunate to be there, however, after a hugely confident appeal for lbw in the first over, from James Anderson, which appeared a stonewall decision, was given not out by umpire Billy Bowden.

Having been reprieved on nought, Hayden's fondness for shuffling down the track to power boundaries - he hit six in all - came to the fore.

England again had to battle back from a poor start in their innings.

Captain Michael Vaughan's woeful World Cup form continued as England lost two wickets inside the opening half-a-dozen overs.

Vaughan extended his trot to just 12 runs in four innings in the Caribbean when he chopped a delivery from Shaun Tait into his stumps.

Frustratingly for England, who need to beat the reigning champions to enhance their prospects of advancing from the Super Eight stage to the semi-finals, the recalled Andrew Strauss fell in the same manner to the slingy pace of Tait.

That left England 24 for two after six overs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the venue of Wednesday's last-ball defeat to Sri Lanka.

Yet the third-wicket pair of Bell and Pietersen combined so effectively that Australia captain Ricky Ponting delayed the second optional powerplay.

With Ed Joyce dropped despite hitting two half-centuries in the tournament, Bell was promoted to open alongside Vaughan and got off the mark from the first ball when he guided a full toss from left-armer Nathan Bracken through the covers for two.