England v Australia: A brief history of an epic rivalry

Australia and England have clashed 136 times in ODIs, with Australia leading the head-to-head by 80 wins to 51.

Just as Test cricket began with them, so too were they there for the birth of ODI cricket in 1971. That first match at Melbourne was a last-minute affair, thrown together to appease the authorities and fans after the Melbourne Test match had been abandoned by rain, and in a sign of things to come, Australia won.

Ahead of the 137th match at Edgbaston on Saturday - a game Australia must win to qualify for the semi-finals - we pick out 10 classic matches from an enduringly spicy rivalry.

1975, England v Australia, Headingley

ICC World Cup semi-final

Their first meeting in a world tournament and a personal triumph for the Aussie southpaw Gary Gilmour, who began by swinging it round corners to upend the English top order - finishing with 6/14 as England was bundled out for just 93 - before, in reply, with Australia tottering at 39/6, smashing an unbeaten 28 to see his team into the final. One of the great all-round performances.

Australia won by four wickets

1987, Australia v England, Sydney

World Series Cup

This was Lamby’s match. England’s middle-order puncher Allan Lamb made a name for himself with a stunning last-over assault on Bruce Reid. "It was a day/night game,” he recalled. "We needed 32 off the last three overs, then 17 off the last. I said to Phil DeFreitas, who was batting with me: 'We can get these runs.' Before the last over I said: 'Give me your bat, mine’s absolute nonsense.' That was all in my head, there was nothing wrong with my bat, it was just that I hadn’t hit a four. I hit Bruce Reid for 18 – two, four, six, two, four – to win with a ball to spare.”

England won by three wickets

1987, Australia v England, Kolkata

ICC World Cup final

A maiden World Cup triumph for Australia - there would be three more to follow - as Allan Border’s unfancied artisans upset the odds to beat the old enemy by seven runs, helped by David Boon’s 75, a cameo from Mike Veletta and Mike Gatting’s infamous reverse sweep against Border which popped up off the shoulder of the bat and lobbed to the keeper. With Gatting’s dismissal, England stuttered, and Australia held on. The Border era was up and running.

Australia won by seven runs ****

1992, Australia v England, Sydney

ICC World Cup group stage

Revenge of sorts for England on Australia’s home turf, and a vintage Ian Botham performance to thank for it. First he slipped in with four wickets, including clean-bowling his old mate Border through the gate, as Australia sank to 171 all out, before climbing into the new ball, hitting a 77-ball 53 in what would be Botham's final half-century in an England shirt.

England won by eight wickets ****

1993, England v Australia, Edgbaston

Second ODI

If ever a match summed up the gap between the two teams in the early 1990s, it was this one. Robin Smith played the innings of his life for England, smashing 167* from 163 balls, but he was poorly supported, and the host's final total of 277 was comfortably reeled in by Mark Waugh (113) and Border (86*) with nine balls to spare.

Australia won by six wickets ****

2003, Australia v England, Port Elizabeth

ICC World Cup group stage

This was pure heartbreak for England. Beset with problems stemming from its decision not to play in Zimbabwe and needing a win against Australia to qualify for the next stage, Nasser Hussain’s side was in a commanding position with Australia eight wickets down and still 73 in arrears. But Andy Bichel - who had earlier taken seven wickets for 20 - joined the master run-chase architect Michael Bevan to put on an unbroken partnership, allowing Bevan to hit the winning runs with two balls to spare to send England packing.

Australia won by two wickets ****

2004, England v Australia, Edgbaston

ICC Champions Trophy semi-final

A classy 86 by captain Michael Vaughan and an unbeaten 52 from Andrew Strauss gave English fans a rare success over their old foes in this ICC Champions Trophy showdown, and gave an early indication of what was to come the following summer. But despite beating the favourites, England was defeated by an inspired West Indies in the dark at The Oval in a dramatic and unforgettable final.

England won by six wickets

2005, England v Australia, Bristol

Third ODI

A masterpiece from a 24-year-old from Durban that would change the complexion of a whole summer. Kevin Pietersen’s stunning 65-ball 91* against the big beasts of Australian fast bowling, wrenching the game England’s way after the hosts had stuttered to 160/6 in pursuit of 253, set him and his new team up for an Ashes series that would never be forgotten.

England won by three wickets ****

2007, Australia v England, Melbourne

One-Day Series final

England looked down and out, crushed in the Test series and barely less pummelled in the one-day series that followed. But after scraping through to the final, beating New Zealand along the way, Andrew Flintoff’s men - and Paul Collingwood in particular - were inspired. Collingwood's unbeaten 120 in the run-chase entered the annals of great cussed Anglo-Australian centuries, as England enjoyed the unfamiliar taste of victory at the end of a harrowing tour.

England won by four wickets ****

2014, Australia v England, Brisbane

Second ODI

A beleaguered England team desperate for respite after a Test-series whitewash came up against a rampant Australia side that refused to accept when it was beaten. The tourists posted 300, with Eoin Morgan making 106, before reducing Australia to 244-9. Surely game over. But James Faulkner was teeing off, and with Clint McKay immovable at No.11, Faulkner struck the winning runs in the last over. England's ordeal was absolute.

Australia won by one wicket