England captain Harry Brook's maiden one-day international century revived his side's series hopes against Australia as they beat the world champions by 46 runs at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.
Victory in the third ODI left England 2-1 down with two to play.
England slumped to 11-2, chasing 305 to win, after Mitchell Starc removed openers Phil Salt (nought) and Ben Duckett (eight) in the space of four balls.
But Will Jacks (84) and Brook (110 not out) then added 156 in a third-wicket partnership of good judgement as well as shot-making skill.
Rain stopped play with England 254-4 off 37.4 overs.
But they were 46 runs ahead of where they needed to be under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for weather-affected matches.
And, with a downpour preventing any further play, England had ended Australia's run of 14 consecutive ODI wins.
Player-of-the-match Brook was understandably elated by a first century in his 18 ODIs, with the 25-year-old Yorkshireman saying at the presentation ceremony: "It's nice to get the first one on the board and hopefully plenty more to come.
"We just have to keep doing what we said we are going to do (in Friday's fourth ODI at Lord's) and keep being positive, take the game to them (Australia)."
Jacks missed out on a maiden century when he uppercut a Cameron Green bouncer to backward point to end an 82-ball innings featuring nine fours and a six.
Brook, however, went to 99 by driving Starc back over his head for four before a single off the paceman saw him to a an 87-ball hundred including 12 fours and two sixes.
- 'Hard work' -
England fans would have feared the worst when Salt clipped Starc straight to midwicket before Duckett, aiming across the line, edged the left-arm fast bowler to backward point.
But against an Australia attack missing key leg-spinner Adam Zampa through illness, Jacks and Brook turned the tide.
Earlier, Australia made 304-7 after Brook won the toss.
Alex Carey was 77 not out, off 65 balls, with star batsman Steven Smith making 60.
England paceman Jofra Archer took 2-67.
"I thought we did extremely well to get the 300 with conditions early on, a lot of seam and it was hard work," said Australia captain Mitchell Marsh.
He added: "In one-day cricket with a big partnership you can set the game up for yourself, fair play to them (England)."
As for Zampa's absence, he added: "Whenever you're missing someone like him it's hard work. But we'll hopefully welcome him back in a few days."
Earlier, wicketkeeper Carey followed his 74 in the second ODI at Leeds, with another fine innings after England reduced Australia to 132-4 on Tuesday.
All-rounder Green, in for the injured Travis Head, had previously fallen for 42 and next over Australia's 131-3 became 132-4 when Marnus Labuschagne was out for a duck after a miscued paddle-sweep off spinner Jacks lobbed gently to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Australia's Smith was out when a fierce pull off Archer was superbly caught by a diving Brydon Carse on the boundary.
Brook 'relieved' as captain
Harry Brook said he felt a sense of relief after his maiden one-day international hundred paved the way for his first win as England captain.
Following heavy defeats by world champions Australia at Trent Bridge and Headingley, England had to win at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday to keep the five-match series alive.
Brook came in to bat with England struggling at 11-2 after Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc had removed both openers.
But the 25-year-old Yorkshireman responded with a superb 110 not out. He received excellent support from Will Jacks (84) in a match-changing stand of 156.
By the time rain curtailed England's pursuit of a target of 305, they had long since done enough to win by 46 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
It was yet more evidence of Brook's talent and temperament with the novice captain, leading England this series in place of the injured Jos Buttler, appearing in just his 18th ODI.
Brook was simply pleased to be back in the runs.
"I'm relieved, for sure," he told reporters. "It's nice to get that first hundred on the board and hopefully there's plenty more to come."
"I feel like I've been a little bit stop-start this summer. I've had a lot of starts -- 30s and 40s -- and then not managed to convert, which is frustrating.
"To do that today, I feel like I'm back in a good place. Obviously it's nice to score runs against Australia, but scoring runs is amazing, no matter who it is against."
- 'Want to win' -
Brook came under fire for his post-match comments following England's defeat in the series opener in Nottingham when he tried to explain some loose dismissals by saying: "If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field then who cares?"
But Brook was adamant he had been misunderstood.
"I think people took that a little bit the wrong way," he said. "You've got to go out and play fearlessly and almost have that 'who cares?' attitude but that's not a 'who cares if we lose?' attitude. We all want to win, but you don't want to go out and have that fear of getting out.
"You've seen it so many times in the Test environment, at the start Stokesy (England red-ball captain Ben Stokes) was getting out caught at mid-on which is unheard of before, so you've got to go out with that fearless attitude and try to take it to the bowlers."
Australia coach Andrew McDonald was left to rue the absence of key spinner Adam Zampa, a late withdrawal through illness, as England ended his side's run of 14 consecutive ODI wins.
McDonald had no doubt about Brook's quality, saying: "Full credit to Harry. He's an impressive player and he's going to have a long career for England.
"He's going to give us some headaches over the journey. The way he played, the way he led today...sometimes you've got to take your hat off to the opposition. This is one of those moments."
Scoreboard
Australia
- Short c Rashid b Archer 14
- Marsh c Smith b Carse 24
- Smith c Carse b Archer 60
- Green c Jacks b Bethell 42
- Labuschagne c Smith b Jacks 0
- Carey not out 77
- Maxwell c Carse b Livingstone 30
- Hardie run out (Rashid/Potts) 44
- Abbott not out 2
Extras (lb1, nb1, w9) 11
Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 304
Did not bat: M Starc, J Hazlewood
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Short), 2-47 (Marsh), 3-131 (Green), 4-132 (Labuschagne), 5-172 (Smith), 6-226 (Maxwell), 7-294 (Hardie)
Bowling: Potts 9-0-48-0 (2w); Archer 10-0-67-2 (3w); Carse 10-0-55-1 (1nb, 1w); Rashid 10-0-56-0; Bethell 5-1-33-1 (2w); Jacks 3-0-20-1; Livingstone 3-0-24-1
England
- Salt c Short b Starc 0
- Duckett c Maxwell b Starc 8
- Jacks c Abbott b Green 84
- Brook not out 110
- Smith c Maxwell b Green 7
- Livingstone not out 33
Extras (lb1, nb3, w8) 12
Total (4 wkts, 37.4 overs) 254
Did not bat: J Bethell, B Carse, J Archer, A Rashid, M Potts
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Salt), 2-11 (Duckett), 3-167 (Jacks), 4-197 (Smith)
Bowling: Starc 8-1-63-2 (1w); Hazlewood 8-0-43-0 (2nb); Abbott 7.4-0-53-0 (1nb, 2w); Hardie 5-0-26-0; Maxwell 2-0-11-0; Green 6-0-45-2 (5w); Short 1-0-12-0
Result: England won by 46 runs (DLS method)
Player-of-the-match: Harry Brook (ENG)
Series: Australia lead five-match series 2-1
Toss: England
Umpires: Alex Wharf (ENG), Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
TV umpire: Joel Wilson (WIS)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
Remaining Fixtures (all times GMT)
Sep 27: 4th ODI, Lord's (1130)
Sep 29: 5th ODI, Bristol (1000)
Previous Results
Sep 19, 1st ODI, Trent Bridge: Australia won by seven wickets
Sep 21, 2nd ODI, Headingley: Australia won by 68 runs