PERTH: Mahli Beardman took 6-24 on debut before Mitchell Marsh smashed a 29-ball 50 as Australia crushed England by seven wickets in the first ODI in Perth on Friday.
After Marsh won the toss and chose to bowl, 21-year-old Beardman tore through the England batting as the visitors slumped to be all out for 131 off just 33.4 overs.
Marsh then put the game beyond doubt with a devastating half-century, hitting four boundaries and clearing the fence another four times to the delight of his home crowd.
Earlier, Beardman bowled with real pace and aggression to record the best ODI bowling figures by an Australian on debut.
Marsh said Beardman was one of a number of young pace bowlers ready to step up when the ageing trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood retired.
“It’s a fantastic start to his career,” Marsh said.
“It’s a glimpse into the future. There’s some really good young talent around the country and hopefully we see them get an opportunity at some stage.” Beardman tore through the England upper order, most of whom fell to poor shots, playing at balls they didn’t need to.
He was well supported by left-armer Spencer Johnson, who took 3-42 as England fell apart on the drop-in wicket at Optus Stadium.
“We’ve spoken a lot about adaptability and how we want to adapt to different surfaces,” England captain Harry Brook said.
“We prepared really well, we knew certain shots weren’t going to work on this wicket, but the Australian attack bowled extremely well.
“They put the ball in the right areas and we didn’t execute our skills well enough.” The three-match ODI series got off to a low-key start, with most eyes on the Sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal following the launch of former Australian opener Usman Khawaja’s autobiography.
England openers Ben Duckett and Tom Banton were relatively untroubled, taking the score to 24 off five overs until Duckett slashed at a Johnson delivery outside off-stump and edged to Jack Edwards at backward point.
The visitors then lost 7-41 as the England batsmen failed to come to terms with the seam and swing from Beardman and Johnson.
At 65-8 they were in danger of being bowled out below 100 but a partnership from Will Jacks and Gus Atkinson saved them from complete humiliation.
Jacks was caught first ball after the drinks break for 25 and when Beardman claimed Jofra Archer, Atkinson was left as top scorer with 29 not out from 32 balls.
England got the perfect start when Atkinson bowled Travis Head first ball, but Marsh had other ideas and launched an all-out assault on Archer and Atkinson.
Cooper Connolly chipped in with 27 before Josh Inglis (23) and Matt Renshaw (26) saw Australia home.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND:
T. Banton c Inglis b Bartlett 25
B. Duckett c Edwards b Johnson 9
J. Root c Inglis b Beardman 17
H. Brook c Inglis b Beardman 1
J. Cox c Inglis b Beardman 2
S. Curran c Zampa b Beardman 0
W. Jacks c Inglis b Johnson 25
L. Dawson c Edwards b Beardman 0
J. Overton c&b Johnson 4
G. Atkinson not out 29
J. Archer c Edwards b Beardman 11
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-6) 8
TOTAL (all out, 33.4 overs) 131
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-24 (Duckett), 2-38 (Banton), 3-42 (Brook), 4-55 (Root), 5-56 (Cox), 6-58 (Curran), 7-60 (Dawson), 8-65 (Overton), 9-102 (Jacks)
BOWLING: Bartlett 10-0-46-1 (1w), Johnson 9-0-42-3 (1w), Beardman 7.4-1-24-6 (2w), Edwards 4-1-10-0 (1w), Zampa 3-1-7-0 (1w)
AUSTRALIA:
M. Marsh c Duckett b Overton 50
T. Head b Atkinson 0
C. Connolly c Jacks b Archer 27
J. Inglis not out 23
M. Renshaw not out 26
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-1) 6
TOTAL (for three wkts, 23.3 overs) 132
DID NOT BAT: C. Green, J. Edwards, X. Bartlett, A. Zampa, S. Johnson, M. Beardman
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Head), 2-67 (Marsh), 3-89 (Connolly)
BOWLING: Archer 8-0-48-1 (1w), Atkinson 10-1-40-1, Overton 4.3-0-35-1, Curran 1-0-4-0
RESULT: Australia won by seven wickets.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mahli Beardman
Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2026
