'Can't believe it': England humiliate Australia in stunning World Cup first

Australia will relinquish the World Cup for just the second time in two decades after their title defence came to a crashing end with a semi-final loss to England.

The Aussies were thoroughly outplayed at Edgbaston, beaten by eight wickets and completely blown off the park as England booked a date with New Zealand in Sunday's decider.

All out for just 223 batting first at Edgbaston, Australia watched on as Jason Roy helped blast England to victory in just 32.1 overs.

England captain Eoin Morgan described it as one of the team's most complete performances in four years, while Australian counterpart Aaron Finch admitted it was his team's worst of the tournament.

"That was really disappointing how it ended, especially to put up probably one of our worst performances overall for the tournament," Finch said.

"We were totally outplayed to be honest all throughout the day."

The result means either England or New Zealand will become just the sixth country to win a World Cup in Sunday's final at Lord's.

The decider will be just the third in 32 years not to feature Australia, with the Aussies also having only dropped the 2011 tournament since 1999.

Unbeaten in a World Cup semi-final before Thursday, Australia were on the back foot from Jofra Archer (2-32) and Chris Woakes' (3-20) opening spells.

Finch fell lbw to Archer for a first-ball duck, Woakes nicked off Warner on nine and then bowled Peter Handscomb for four.

By that stage Australia were 3-14, and it was left to Steve Smith to lead a recovery mission.

The former captain posted his highest score of the tournament with 85, but only a gutsy Alex Carey (46) provided any real support in a 103-run fourth-wicket stand.

But when Carey holed out on the legside boundary to Adil Rashid (3-54), England had complete control as Marcus Stoinis (0) and Glenn Maxwell (22) followed.

In reply, England had no such problem with the pace and bounce of the wicket.

Openers Jonny Bairstow and Roy put on 124 inside 18 overs, taking the game away from Australia with their customary early power hitting.

Roy at one stage hit Steve Smith for three sixes down the ground in one over, including one that went high into the top tier of stands.

By the time Mitchell Starc had Bairstow lbw on 34, a jovial home crowd were already breaking into a chorus of songs and celebrations.

Cricket world reacts

“I can’t believe I have just watched that,” former England captain Alastair Cook said in commentary for BBC.

“You always think there will be a twist in the tail but there was no twist. England were so good.”

Michael Vaughan added: “It’s remarkable and all the players deserve all the credit, the management, everyone involved in English cricket. It’s going to be amazing, I can’t wait.”

Vaughan also took a sly dig at Australia’s preparations for the match in which they walked around the field with no shoes on.

That party was only briefly stopped when Roy was controversially given out caught behind off Cummins on 85, despite replays showing he'd missed the ball.

However, it mattered little as Joe Root (49) and Eoin Morgan (45) took England to victory and within touching distance of their maiden title.

Australia, meanwhile, will look back on their World Cup with mixed views.

A semi-final appearance looked beyond them amid their year of crisis, but they sat first headed into the last round game before crashing out with two straight losses.

with AAP