When the all-rounder joined his captain Eoin Morgan at the crease, England were in a perilous position having lost three wickets for 35 runs at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

However, the duo added 159 runs to steer their side to what was eventually a 40 run victory on the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain forced the game to finish early.

All of Australia’s games in the tournament have been weather affected, although this time enough overs had been faced by both sides to warrant a result.

It means Bangladesh will join the hosts in the semi-finals.

Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first, but it seemed this decision had backfired as half centuries from Aaron Finch and Steve Smith seemed to put Australia in a good position as they reached 136-1 in the 22^nd over.

However, after Finch was caught by Morgan off Stokes for 68, the English bowlers started getting on top of proceedings.

Australia’s innings did not immediately collapse, but they soon found themselves falling from 239-4 to 254-9 in the space of 4.1 overs towards the end of their 50 overs.

It was fast bowler Mark Wood and leg spinner Adil Rashid who did the damage as both ended the innings with four wickets apiece while a catch from Jason Roy, who had to throw the ball up in the air to avoid going over the boundary before going back over and grabbing it back, proving to be a highlight.

Travis Head did give the Australians something to cheer towards the end as he hit a couple of sixes on his way to 71 not out as his side posted 277-9.

Momentum seemed to have shifted back to the visitors as Roy, Alex Hales and Joe Root all fell cheaply to Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to put England on 35-3.

A rain break came but no overs were lost and after the restart, Morgan and Stokes sparked to life with the bat as they started hitting boundaries and getting England back into the match.

Morgan was eventually run out for 87 from 81 balls, with eight fours and five sixes, but Stokes continued on his way to a century.

The rain returned with 9.4 overs left and this led to the match coming to an end.

At this point, England, with 240-4 on the board, were 40 ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score and therefore awarded the victory.

Tomorrow sees India play South Africa at the Oval in London.