ENGLAND'S attempt to knock Australia out of cricket's Twenty20 Cup looks doomed to failure after they were bowled out for just 135 in Cape Town.

Paul Collingwood's side lost wickets at regular intervals as Australia provided the perfect response to Wednesday's shock defeat to Zimbabwe, but they will still progress to the knock-out phase provided their opponents do not reach their 136-run target in nine overs and three balls.

Andrew Flintoff was England's top scorer with 31 runs off 19 balls, but Kevin Pietersen and Darren Maddy were the only other batsmen to top 20 as England struggled to generate any momentum.

Nathan Bracken was the pick of the Australian attack, finishing with figures of 3-16.

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