BRISTOL (England), June 19: England fast bowler Steve Harmison took a career-best five-wicket haul and Kevin Pietersen blasted 91 not out as Australia’s world champions crashed to a second consecutive triangular series one-day defeat on Sunday.

The Australians, whose reverse against Bangladesh on Saturday was one of the greatest upsets in cricket history, produced a much-improved display but lost out by three wickets as Pietersen’s extraordinary knock sealed the win with 15 balls to spare.

The South-African born Pietersen hammered his runs off 65 balls, including eight fours and four sixes. His last 52 runs came off 23 deliveries.

England needed seven an over off the last 15 to win and 76 runs off the last 10 as the wickets continued to tumble but Pietersen, in his first one-day innings against the world champions, and Vikram Solanki rattled through several gears to put on 54 in just five overs.

Pietersen then hit 17 off the 46th over from Jason Gillespie to make certain of victory.

Earlier, Harmison took five for 33, including three wickets in four balls.

Mike Hussey top-scored for Australia with 84 off 83 balls, hitting 11 fours and putting on 105 in 20 overs with Michael Clarke for the fifth wicket.

Australia had begun brightly after opting to bat, putting on 57 after 11 overs, before Harmison’s arrival.

The strike bowler’s fourth wicket, however, making it 63 for four and giving him four wickets for two runs in 15 balls, deserved the greatest plaudits.

The ball, dragged short, was nothing special but was followed by as good a catch as one could see. Matthew Hayden cut high to point when Paul Collingwood took off to his left and reached across to take the half-chance with his right hand.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

A.C. Gilchrist c Jones b Harmison 26

M.L. Hayden c Collingwood b Harmison 31

R.T. Ponting lbw b Harmison 0

D.R. Martyn c Pietersen b Harmison 0

M.J. Clarke b Lewis 45

M.E.K. Hussey b Harmison 84

S.R. Watson b Flintoff 25

G.B. Hogg not out 10

J.N. Gillespie c Jones b Flintoff 14

M.S. Kasprowicz b Gough 1

G.D. McGrath not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-6, NB-4) 16

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 252

FALL OF WKTS: 1-57, 2-57, 3-57, 4-63, 5-168, 6-220, 7-220, 8-244, 9-248.

BOWLING: Gough 10-0-47-1 (3nb); Lewis 10-0-69-1 (1nb); Harmison 10-0-33-5 (2w); Flintoff 10-1-39-2 (4w); Collingwood 2-0-11-0; Vaughan 6-0-33-0; Solanki 2-0-14-0.

ENGLAND:

M.E. Trescothick b McGrath 16

A.J. Strauss b McGrath 16

M.P. Vaughan lbw b Hogg 57

P.D. Collingwood b Kasprowicz 14

A. Flintoff c Kasprowicz b Hogg 19

K.P. Pietersen not out 91

G.O. Jones c Martyn b Hogg 2

V.S. Solanki run out 13

J. Lewis not out 7

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-7, NB-10) 18

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 47.3 overs) 253

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39, 2-42, 3-82, 4-119, 5-150, 6-160, 7-214.

DID NOT BAT: D. Gough, S.J. Harmison.

BOWLING: McGrath 9-1-34-2 (3nb, 1w); Gillespie 10-1-66-0 (1nb, 5w); Kasprowicz 9-0-68-1 (6nb); Watson 9.3-0-42-0; Hogg 10-1-42-3 (1w).

RESULT: England won by three wickets.

UMPIRES: J.W. Lloyds (England) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan).

TV UMPIRE: N.J. Llong (England).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kevin Pietersen.

NEXT MATCH: England v Bangladesh at Trent Bridge (D/N) on Tuesday.—Agencies