England crumble against Australia in Perth again as Mitchell Marsh's side win first ODI amid 'Sandpapergate' storm

England capitulated in Perth for the second year running as an Australia side engulfed by the 'Sandpapergate' storm cruised to a seven-wicket victory in a series-opening ODI in which debutant Mahli Beardman recorded a six-wicket haul.

England's raft of rash strokes in last November's first Ashes Test at Optus Stadium led to them losing that game inside two days en route to a harrowing 4-1 series defeat, and there were familiar failings on a nightmare Friday as they were skittled for 131.

Unlike the previous winter, the tourists played a proper warm-up game at another Perth venue in The WACA ahead of the ODI series, beating Western Australia by 92 runs last Saturday as 21-year-old pacer Beardman went wicketless from 10 overs.

Fast forward six days and Beardman bagged the best figures by an Australian on ODI debut - his 6-24 from 7.4 overs topping Tony Dodemaide's 5-21 versus Sri Lanka in 1988 - with his five-for on his home ground coming in 28 balls as England slumped, before Australia reached their target in 23.3 overs.

• Scorecard: Australia vs England, first ODI, Optus Stadium
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Harry Brook (1), who became Beardman's first wicket when he poked behind in the 12th over, saw his side bundled out in just 33.4 overs with Joe Root (17), playing his 200th ODI, one of a number of players to perish on the drive, the sort of shot that had got England in all sorts of bother during their Test trouncing here a year ago.

Brook's men rallied somewhat from 65-8, passing their lowest-ever ODI score of 86 and reaching three figures thanks to Will Jacks (25) and Gus Atkinson, who top-scored with 29 not out from 32 balls from the No 10 spot and hit England's sole six.

But a target of 132 was never likely to trouble Australia, despite Atkinson bowling Travis Head - who had slammed a match-winning hundred in that Ashes clash in Perth in 2025 - for a golden duck in the second over and so it proved, as stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh tonked a 29-ball fifty before holing out with 65 runs needed.

Marsh's eight-boundary onslaught (four sixes, four fours) came a day after dead-batting all questions about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, which has been catapulted back onto the news agenda following the release of Usman Khawaja's book.

Beardman the star after Cummins hogs the headlines

Marsh is leading Australia in this three-match series in place of the rested Pat Cummins - but the latter was, along with Beardman, the undoubted story of Friday as he held an extraordinary, 68-minute press conference to address Khawaja's comments.

Cummins insisted Khawaja's claims that every member of the Baggy Greens dressing room back then was aware of the plot to alter the ball using sandpaper to be "100 per cent wrong" and "utter nonsense" before lauding "really exciting prospect" Beardman.

As fans and media digested Cummins' startling response to Khawaja's accusations, a couple of hours later they were hailing Beardman's record-breaking ODI bow, where he displayed accuracy, speed and skill and offered a glimpse into the future.

The seamer nicked off Brook, Root and Jordan Cox (2), bounced out Sam Curran (0), had Liam Dawson - once again preferred in the England XI to fellow spinner Adil Rashid - caught at backward point for a duck and ended the innings when last man Jofra Archer (11) was athletically pouched by a diving Jack Edwards in the gully.

An Australia attack missing Cummins and two other rested fast-bowling stalwarts in Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood excelled with left-armer Spencer Johnson's 3-42 including Ben Duckett (9) caught square driving to backward point after England lost the toss and new-ball partner Xavier Bartlett (1-46) removing Tom Banton (25).

England took a few scalps in the chase in Head, Marsh and Cooper Connolly (27 off 30) but Australia eased to victory - Matt Renshaw (26no) hitting the winning runs - and will now look to wrap up a series win with a game to spare in Adelaide on Sunday ahead of next Wednesday's final game in Hobart.

Brook's team are not at full strength - they are shorn of the injured Jacob Bethell (knee), Jos Buttler (hamstring) and Josh Tongue (toe) - but neither are Australia, so this defeat, following swiftly on from their tri-series travails in Pakistan last month when they lost three of their four matches, leaves England with plenty to ponder.

Beardman 'outstanding' but England didn't 'execute well enough'

England captain Harry Brook, speaking at the presentation:

"We have been in Perth for a week and a half and prepared extremely well [but] Australia bowled extremely well.

"Beardman was outstanding. He put the ball in the right areas and got enough out of the surface to dismiss us.

"We have spoken a lot about adaptability. We want to adapt to different surfaces and we knew certain shots weren't going to work on this pitch. We probably didn't execute our skills well enough.

"The bigger picture is that there is a World Cup in South Africa in 12 months' time and these experiences - we try to bank them and learn from them as much as we can. We are not out of this series."

'I would love to live my life like Beardman'

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh, on Mahli Beardman:

"He is a fantastic young kid - I would love to live my life like him: carefree, loves the ocean, loves learning about fast bowling.

"He has had a few injury problems but he is a really confident, gentle young man.

"I had nothing but a smile on my face seeing that today. Whether or not he took wickets, he brings a certain energy and it is a fantastic start to his career.

"Mahli's already said he's not sure who is coming back in for him, so the big three [Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood] might have a sleepless night.

"There's some really good talent around the country, a lot of fast bowling talent, which is really exciting."

Schedule for England's tour of Australia

ODIs 3.30am UK time, with T20s 8.15am UK time

• First ODI: Australia beat England by seven wickets in Perth
• Second ODI: Sunday November 15 (Adelaide)
• Third ODI: Wednesday November 18 (Hobart)
• First T20I: Saturday November 21 (Melbourne)
• Second T20I: Tuesday November 24 (Carrara)
• Third T20I: Friday November 27 (Brisbane)
• Fourth T20I: Sunday November 29 (Sydney)
• Fifth T20I: Wednesday December 2 (Canberra)

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