Michael Vaughan delivered the most important innings of his one-day international career to end Australia's five-year stranglehold and propel England into the ICC Champions Trophy final following a comfortable win at Edgbaston.

Five years since their last triumph over the world champions, a run which has comprised 14 successive defeats, Vaughan spearheaded a charge towards a six- wicket victory and laid down a marker for next summer's Ashes series.

His determined 86, overhauling his previous best of 85 against South Africa at the same venue last summer, guided England past Australia's competitive total of 259 for nine with 21 balls to spare, and keeps them on course for a stunning finish to a summer which has already included seven successive Test victories.

England will face either Pakistan or West Indies, who meet today, in Saturday's final at the Oval knowing their first major piece of silverware is in their sights to complete a summer which exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations.

Should that happen Vaughan will deserve plenty of credit for leading England to their Test successes then delivering when it mattered to beat an Australian line-up who had won 24 of their last 27 one-day internationals.

His innings also ended any doubts about Vaughan's capacity to perform at the limited overs format of the game after recording his highest score at this level, having passed 50 only once in his last 11 outings.

Propelled towards the victory target by Marcus Trescothick's early onslaught, Vaughan began slowly before almost matching the Somerset left-hander stroke for stroke.

He was composed enough to guide his side to within reach of a win which has earned England their first major final since reaching the same stage of the 1992 World Cup in Melbourne.

Facing a bigger target than they had expected after a late Australian rally, England's reply began positively with Trescothick following up his aggressive 66 against Sri Lanka on Saturday by dominating the world champions' highly-rated attack.

Despite the early loss of Vikram Solanki, adjudged to have been leg before to Jason Gillespie, Trescothick took the decision to be aggressive and hammered Glenn McGrath, England's chief tormentor at both Test and one-day level, for four boundaries in one over.

Once Vaughan had overcome his shaky start - he edged Michael Kasprowicz's first delivery just short of captain Ricky Ponting at second slip - he teamed up successfully with Trescothick to forge a match-winning 140-run partnership off 159 deliveries.

Trescothick was finally dismissed for 81 attempting a late cut, a shot which had been very profitable to him during his 88-ball innings, against the off-spin of Andrew Symonds but was bowled after failing to spot the quicker ball.

Previous failures may have prompted a collapse at this point and plunged England to another defeat just as they had victory in their sights, but Vaughan was determined to lead his side home.

Every run from the captain was cheered by a disappointing 10,000 crowd sensing a momentous triumph was in England's sights, but Vaughan was unable to complete the triumph himself after top-edging an attempted pull off Brett Lee and being caught by Matthew Hayden.

Instead it was left to Andrew Strauss, a relative newcomer to England's one-day line-up and without a major score in his last five outings, to follow his captain's lead. He hit an unbeaten 52 off only 42 balls before leaving Paul Collingwood to hit the winning boundary.

Vaughan played a leading role in limiting Australia after performing impressively with his occasional off-spin. He bowled in tandem with left-arm spinner Ashley Giles in the middle of the innings just when Australia were looking to accelerate.

Vaughan claimed the crucial wickets of Damien Martyn, who top-scored with a battling 65, and Darren Lehmann, and also ran out hard-hitting all-rounder Andrew Symonds and finished with respectable figures of two for 42 from his ten overs.

Flamboyant openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, perhaps fearing conditions favourable to bowling early in the day, made a cautious start to the innings before gradually accelerating to forge a 44-run partnership off 50 balls. They then fell within six overs of each other.

Needing to rebuild the innings, Australia put their trust in captain Ricky Ponting and Martyn to lay the type of platform which would enable them to launch a late assault towards a formidable total, but instead England frustrated their efforts by partnering Vaughan's occasional off-spin with Giles.

Frustrating Ponting's natural inclination to play aggressive shots worked a treat with the Australian captain finally giving in to temptation and attempting to hit Giles over the top, only for Darren Gough to take a superb running catch on the long-on boundary.

Without Ponting's aggression, Australia were now relying on the composure of Martyn, who hit a match-winning unbeaten 60 in the previous match to help beat New Zealand, and Darren Lehmann to try to guide their side towards a winning total.

They forged a superbly-timed 75-run stand off 82 balls before Lehmann fell with 11 overs remaining when he was bowled by Vaughan, mis-timing an attempted sweep, and Australia's hopes of a big total suffered a major setback five balls later when Symonds was also dismissed.

With Michael Clarke hitting a quickfire 42 off 34 balls, it seemed once again that Australia's depth of talent would triumph. But this time they encountered a different type of England side, who signalled their intentions for next summer with an aggressive and impressive brand of cricket that has kept them on course for a glorious finale to the summer.