Paul Collingwood inspired England in the field and with the bat as his century carried the tourists to a shock 1-0 lead over Australia at the MCG in the first tri-series one-day cricket final.

Collingwood followed a brilliant day in the field, where his match-turning catch and two run-outs helped England bowl Australia out for 252, with an unbeaten 120 and victory in the final over of the match.

England needed four runs to win from Nathan Bracken's last over, but Paul Nixon coolly took three from the first two deliveries before Collingwood hit the winning run next ball to give the tourists victory by four wickets with three balls left.

Collingwood's superbly-paced innings, from 133 balls and three days after he scored a century against New Zealand, rescued England from a terrible start of 3-15 inside six overs.

It was a laughable prospect a week ago, but England are now on the cusp of winning some silverware in the same summer they were belted 5-0 in the Ashes, as they will head into Sunday's second final at the SCG energised.

Australia are one more bad game away from not winning their own tri-series for the first time since the 2001-02 summer, when South Africa beat New Zealand. The last time Australia lost the finals of a triangular series was 1992-93, to the West Indies.

Collingwood and Ian Bell (65) set England on the way to victory with a 133-run stand, before Collingwood and captain Andrew Flintoff had a stand of 74.

Although Flintoff's departure in the 46th over left the tourists without a big hitter, Collingwood flicked Shane Watson for successive boundaries over square in the 48th over, which gave a England a run-a-ball equation.

Collingwood got England back into the match much earlier, through a brilliant catch to remove Ricky Ponting and two run-outs with direct hits.

Australia were headed for a monstrous total after 30 overs when Ponting (75) and Matthew Hayden (82) had the England attack at their mercy at 1-170, and looked intent on building on their 138-run stand.

But Collingwood latched his left hand on to a fierce back-foot drive from Ponting at short cover - low and to his left - which ended the Australian skipper's run-a-ball knock and denied him a third successive century this series.

That wicket inspired England to claim 9-82 through the tight bowling of spinner Monty Panesar (2-44) and Flintoff (3-41), who bowled well at the death.

Collingwood struck twice with accurate throws, first to end Michael Clarke's (33) promising innings and then with a clever under-arm from backward point which caught Brett Lee short.

Australian allrounder Shane Watson had a tough comeback match, as he made only nine and went for 1-51 off eight overs, the last of which was crucial.

Veteran Glenn McGrath had a birthday to forget, as he dropped a sitter at deep square leg when Bell was on 18 which would have left England 4-33 in the 12th over.

Umpire Darryl Harper had a bad day, paying two poor leg before decisions, one against Australia's Brad Hodge (doubt over height) and against England's Mal Loye, which was headed legside.

In a bad night for Australia, wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist missed a chance to run out Collingwood when he instead threw to the bowler's end.

The win gave England three straight victories for the first time since 2005 and Flintoff said his side had shown great character to fight back in the field and with the bat.

"To restrict them to 250-odd was a fantastic effort and then when you lose three wickets in a run-chase on a pitch which was hard to score on times was going to be tough," he said.

"I can't speak high enough of the way Paul played. In all my time playing one-day cricket for England, wearing the blue shirt, it's the best innings I've seen.

"The way he paced it, his stamina, his concentration - it was a lesson for everyone watching. It's fantastic to see Paul playing like that and all the lads really did appreciate it."

Flintoff said Collingwood's catch to remove Ponting also turned England's fortunes.

"That sparked us that catch, a bit of magic turned it around for us," he said.

Flintoff said England would enjoy the victory, but were desperate to win again in Sydney.

"We want to take something home and we're in a position now where we can do as long as we keep doing the basics right and believing we can do," he said.

Collingwood was happy he succeeded when he took on the responsibility in the dying overs, and agreed the knock was the best of his career.

"Yeah, it was a great feeling. Under the circumstances it was a great thrill in such an important game, in the finals," he said.

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