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Adelaide: Clink McKay (3-36) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (3-34) picked up 3 wickets each as Australia succesfully defended 217, Australia win series 4-1 after England collapse.
With England needing eight runs from nine balls and with a solitary wicket in hand, Australian keeper Matthew Wade failed to hang on to a sharp delivery from Clint McKay by dint of the fact that was standing up to the stumps for the opening bowler.
But in a moment that symbolised the disparate fortunes of the teams all summer, the ball fell from his gloves on to the leg bail which dislodged - as minutes of forensic television study finally determined - as England batsman Ravi Bopara's back foot hovered millimetres above the ground.
The accidental breakthrough robbed England of their final recognised batsman, even if Bopara's innings of 25 from 44 balls had proved almost as painstaking as the video review process that finally removed him.
Australia's five-run win with two just two deliveries to spare, which completed a four-one success in the Carlton Mid ODI Series, was completed when final batsman James Tredwell's hopeful swing at Shane Watson yielded a fine edge on to which Wade assuredly hung.
Up until that pivotal instant that delivered an accidental wicket, Alastair Cook might have secretly started wishing that the tour he thought would never end could be extended for another couple of games.
His team looked like it could reverse a winless three months by snatching two wins in three days by following their comfortable win in Perth last Friday with a in vastly different conditions at Adelaide Oval.
On paper, Australia's 50-over total of 9-217 would hardly daunt most teams dabbling in the Twenty20 format, a competition that will round out England's Australian sojourn over the coming week.
But on an Adelaide pitch that betrayed about as much life and responsiveness as England's Ashes campaign, it was a target that was going to take some grim intent and innovative batting prowess from a team that shown neither for most of its 91 days on these shores.
Perhaps fittingly, it was Joe Root - the batsman who became his team's fall guy during the Tests when he shuffled down, up and ultimately out of the batting line-up before being dumped from the one-day line-up as well - who provided the backbone for England's brave but ultimately futile run chase.
Brought into the team for the final match of the Carlton Mid ODI Series to replace Gary Ballance, to whom he lost his place in the Test team, Root ran aggressively between wickets and even managed one of only two sixes struck for the match.
But with victory becoming ever sharper in focus, and the equation narrowed to 61 runs from 12 overs with six wickets in the bank, Root gave his critics another round of ammunition when his speculative attempt at a ramp shot ended in the hands of the fielder at short fine leg.
It was a needless sacrifice of a wicket given that Eoin Morgan - the smoter of the other six - had fallen to the same bowler in the previous over when trying to will the ball above the infield, ending a 64-run fifth-wicket partnership that had put England on track for victory.
However, the arrival of two fresh players at the crease and the problems they were always going to encounter adjusting to the batsmen-unfriendly conditions meant the Australians could suddenly sense they were back in a game they had struggled to gain traction in since opting to bat first.
The occasional boundary was counter-balance by the regular loss of wickets as England's lower and middle-order batsmen furiously searched for ways to work the ball from the dead surface into and narrow gaps into the field.
And by the time Stuart Broad, the hero if England's bowling innings was bowled for seven it was officially too close to call with the tourists requiring 14 runs and Australia two wickets from the final three overs.
The difficulty posed by the Adelaide Oval pitch and its unsuitability for one-day cricket was highlighted by the fact that Root (55 from 86 balls) and Australia's George Bailey (56 from 74) were the only batsmen to reach 50.
Australia surrendered its number one position on the International Cricket Council's one-day international rankings when they lost to England in Perth on Friday, but returned to the top spot with the win in Adelaide.
Its only hope of retaining that honour for the immediate future rests with their trans-Tasman rivals, and New Zealand's capacity to win one of their remaining two matches against India.
Allrounder James Faulkner was named the Carlton Mid Man of the Match for his knock of 27, as well as his 2-37 in the England innings. Explosive opener Aaron Finch was named Player of the Series after scoring 258 runs at 51.60 in five matches.
Earlier, Australia have won the toss and have opted to bat.
Four changes for Australia: Christian, Pattinson, Johnson and Smith all left out.
Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Clint McKay and Xavier Doherty are back for Australia.
Meanwhile, England make a lone edit with Joe Root replacing Garry Ballance.
Teams:
Australia: Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Jordan, James Tredwell
Brief scores
Australia 9 for 217 (Bailey 56, Broad 3-31, Stokes 3-43)
England 212 (Root 55, Coulter-Nile 3-34, McKay 3-36)
Result Australia won by 5 runs
MOM James Faulkner (Australia)
Man of the series Aaron Finch (Australia)
