Australia’s pace attack gave England a reality check in the opening ODI in Perth, with debutant Mahli Beardman stealing the spotlight through a sensational six-wicket haul. England captain Harry Brook acknowledged the youngster’s outstanding performance after the visitors were bowled out for 131 and suffered a seven-wicket defeat at Optus Stadium.Beardman returned figures of 6/24 in 7.4 overs, becoming the first Australian since Tony Dodemaide in 1988 to claim a five-wicket haul on his ODI debut. His performance helped Australia take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, leaving England with plenty to address before the second match in Adelaide.Speaking after the defeat, Brook praised the young Australian pacer for exploiting the conditions and consistently hitting the right areas.“Yeah. We’ve been here for a week and a half or so. We’ve prepared extremely well. Australia have bowled extremely well. Mahli Beardman was outstanding today. He put the ball in the right areas, got enough out of the surface to dismiss us, and, yeah, they put in a good performance with the ball,” Brook said.
England’s batting collapse in Perth
After Australia won the toss and elected to bowl, England struggled to cope with the pace and bounce on offer. Tom Banton top-scored with 25, while Will Jacks and Gus Atkinson also contributed 25 and an unbeaten 29 respectively.However, Beardman’s relentless spell triggered a collapse that saw England slip from 38/2 to 60/7. He removed Brook, Joe Root, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson and Jofra Archer to record the best ODI debut bowling figures by an Australian.Spencer Johnson provided further support with three wickets as England were dismissed for 131 in 33.4 overs.Australia made light work of the chase, reaching 132/3 in just 23.3 overs. Captain Mitchell Marsh led from the front with a blistering 50 off 30 deliveries, while Cooper Connolly scored 27 and Matt Renshaw remained unbeaten on 26. The hosts sealed a comfortable seven-wicket victory.
Harry Brook admits England failed to adapt
Brook admitted that England had discussed adapting their approach to different conditions but failed to execute their plans against Australia’s disciplined bowling attack.“We spoke a lot about adaptability. We want to adapt to different surfaces, and as I said before, we’ve been here for a week and a half.“We prepared extremely well. We knew that certain shots weren’t going to work on this pitch, but look, the Australian attack bowled extremely well. They put the ball in the right areas for 30-odd overs, and we probably didn’t execute our skill well enough,” he added.
2027 ODI World Cup remains the bigger picture
With the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa approaching, Brook said these challenging conditions and experiences would be important for England’s preparations. He also insisted that his side remained confident of bouncing back despite losing the opening match.“Definitely, and that is the bigger picture (World Cup preparations). We’ve got a World Cup in South Africa in 12 months’ time, and these experiences, we take them, we learn from them as much as we possibly can. We’re not out of this series yet. We’ve been in this position a couple of times before and managed to bounce back. So hopefully we can do that when we get to Adelaide,” he said.England will now look to level the series in the second ODI in Adelaide before the teams head to Hobart for the final match.
