শুক্রবার, ১৩ নভেম্বর ২০২৬, ০৭:৩১ অপরাহ্ন
First one-day international, Perth
England 131 (33.4 overs): Atkinson 29*; Beardman 6-24
Australia 132-3 (23.3 overs): Marsh 50, Connolly 27
Australia won by seven wickets
England meekly offered Australia respite from the ongoing sandpaper scandal by being bowled out for 131 in a seven-wicket thrashing in the first one-day international in Perth.
Hours after Pat Cummins emphatically hit back at Usman Khawaja’s comments, Harry Brook’s England folded as 21-year-old fast bowler Mahli Beardman emerged with a stunning 6-24 on his ODI debut.
Beardman nicked off Brook in his second over for his first international wicket. Less than two hours later, bowling accurately and at good pace, he had the best figures by an Australian on ODI debut.
His second ODI wicket was the prized scalp of Joe Root for 17 and he also dismissed Tom Banton, whose 25 was one of only three scores over 20, Jordan Cox and Sam Curran in an opening spell of five overs that returned figures of 5-18.
Ben Duckett, Banton and Root, plus Beardman’s later victims Liam Dawson and Jofra Archer, fell driving in Perth – dismissals familiar from England’s wretched start to last winter’s Ashes series on the same ground.
This was another Perth surface offering pace and bounce and England had no answer.
Talk of the sandpaper scandal still swirls around the game – the day began with David Warner accusing Cummins of throwing Khawaja “under the bus” on the Australian TV coverage – but England missed the chance to apply more misery to their oldest foe.
Captain Mitchell Marsh, who repeatedly dodged questions about ball tampering in his news conference on Thursday, thrashed a 29-ball fifty as Australia chased their target with a massive 26.3 overs to spare.
The second of three ODIs is on Sunday in Adelaide (03:30 GMT) with England, who suffered damaging defeats in the tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka last month, desperately needing a response as they attempt to build towards next year’s World Cup after four defeats in their past five matches.
