Australia firmly dismissed talk of their impending demise by relying on their returning heroes to complete a one-sided victory over England and end their surprise NatWest Series losing streak.

Since arriving on English soil nearly three weeks ago, Australia's aura of invincibility has been shattered by two defeats to England and a stunning beating by Bangladesh while they have also been beset by off-field problems.

But normal service was resumed at Chester-le-Street when they shrugged off their problems to complete a comprehensive 57-run victory over England to claim their first triumph of the triangular series and put down their first marker of intent for the Ashes later this summer.

To achieve their comfortable triumph, however, Australia had to rely on the return of Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee to give them the impetus required to emphatically end rumours of internal indiscipline.

Symonds, banned for two matches after breaking the team's curfew the night before their humiliating defeat by Bangladesh in Cardiff, has been cast in the role of the squad's bad boy in the week since his late night was first reported.

He delivered the perfect response to criticism of his behaviour with a stunning display, firstly hitting a superb 73 to guide the world champions to a competitive total of 266 for five and then claiming the crucial wicket of Kevin Pietersen as England slumped to 209 for nine in reply.

His return was almost matched by that of fast bowler Lee, who was ruled out of the first two matches with a shoulder injury but returned with a stunning new-ball burst to help England slip to six for three and finished with an impressive two for 27.

Their efforts provided Australia with the platform to showcase their talents and they looked anything like a team on the wane virtually from the moment they took the field at the start of play.

Acting captain Marcus Trescothick, leading the side after Michael Vaughan failed a fitness test on his groin strain, sprang a surprise on the Australians straight away by putting them into bat in near-perfect batting conditions, but saw his side fight back well to restrict them to 96 for three despite a flying start from openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.

Hampshire seamer Chris Tremlett, retained in the side following his four-wicket debut against Bangladesh two days earlier, received early punishment but showed enough character to persevere and induced Gilchrist into edging behind before Hayden and captain Ricky Ponting fell in quick succession.

Ponting, who had scored only one run in his previous two innings during this tournament, had been given a reprieve three runs earlier when he mistimed an attempted straight drive into the deep but a mix-up in communication between Paul Collingwood and Pietersen allowed the ball to bounce between them.

It was not a costly error, with Ponting upper-cutting Steve Harmison down to the diving Ashley Giles at third man and was quickly followed with Hayden being caught behind at the second attempt off Andrew Flintoff.

With two new batsmen at the crease in Symonds and Damien Martyn, England were hopeful of limiting the world champions to a modest total.

Instead of capitulating - as they had done in their Twenty20 encounter - Australia rediscovered their ability to battle their way out of the toughest of situations with Symonds dominating a crucial 142-run stand.

Pushing hard between the wickets and inducing mistakes among the England fielders, they successfully guided Australia to a competitive score with Symonds hitting two sixes and four fours in his 81-ball innings before being run out with five overs to spare by a direct hit from Trescothick.

Their contribution subdued an enthusiastic Riverside crowd, who were lifted only briefly when Darren Gough did his best pantomime ghost impression while passing non-striker Shane Watson to see if recent stories of Australia's aversion to such sights were true.

Martyn finished unbeaten on 68 having played the anchor role successfully, but the importance of his contribution only became clear once England lost three wickets in six balls inside the first six overs of their reply.

Labelled as fast but wayward, Lee instead delivered a superb opening spell of 4-1-5-1 as England's top order were decimated by his accurate new-ball partnership with Glenn McGrath which all but settled the outcome of the match.

Andrew Strauss, who hit a brilliant 152 two days earlier, chopped on Lee's inswinger and was followed four balls later when Trescothick edged behind to McGrath pushing outside off-stump and Paul Collingwood completed the early collapse by falling two balls later by also getting an inside edge onto his stumps.

It took a determined 79-run stand between Vikram Solanki and Andrew Flintoff to halt the collapse, but as they attempted to rebuild the innings the rate required continued to rise to the stage where they had to take risks.

Spinner Brad Hogg effectively ended England's resistance by dismissing England's fourth-wicket pair in successive overs, Flintoff falling for a determined 44 off 61 balls by holing out to long-on for the third successive match and this time Pietersen was not able to produce a heroic innings and holed out in the deep.

Even a brief but entertaining late rally led by Darren Gough, who claimed a career-best 46 not out, could not stop the inevitable and Australia completed their deserved victory.