Brett Lee claimed his 200th one-day international wicket to quell England's start to the NatWest Challenge decider at the Brit Oval.
Fast bowler Lee got to the milestone when Marcus Trescothick upper-cut straight to third man in the third over of the morning.
It was exactly the same mode of dismissal Lee thought he exacted at Headingley last Thursday only for it to be scrubbed due to a no-ball as Trescothick struck a hundred.
This time the 29-year-old perished for a 12-ball duck as the Australian pace attack kept things tight.
Glenn McGrath sent down four consecutive maidens from the pavilion end and should have earnt a wicket in his fifth when England captain Michael Vaughan top-edged a hook to fine-leg where the out-of-sorts Jason Gillespie inexplicably dropped a straightforward chance.
Vaughan's let-off, on nine, with the score 22 for one, was followed by another for Andrew Strauss in the next over, the 11th of the innings, when an attempted cross-bat spiralled over wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, who made ground to the ball but made a hash of the catch to send the ball crashing into the turf.
When Strauss and Vaughan found the boundary off McGrath moments later it appeared those misses would be costly but the latter sacrificed himself with a poorly-judged call for a single.
The ball squirmed behind square on the off-side off Strauss' bat and was seized upon by Ricky Ponting, whose direct hit left Vaughan short of his ground.
That left England, unchanged for the third match running and asked to bat, 44 for two in the 13th over.
Today's match was umpire David Shepherd's last as an international official, culminating a 20-year career at the top level.