England spurned a commanding position by succumbing to spin before Travis Head took advantage of being dropped on six to make an unbeaten century and power Australia to a seven-wicket win.
From 213 for two in the 33rd over, thanks to Ben Duckett’s 95 off 91 deliveries and Will Jacks’ 62 off 56, England collapsed to 315 all out with two balls unused in the first of five ODIs at Trent Bridge.
A 350-plus scoreline went begging as nine wickets fell to spin and if Adam Zampa taking three for 49 on his 100th ODI is understandable, England might rue part-timer Marnus Labuschagne bagging three scalps.
They still might have had enough on the board when Head went aerial early on but Carse was too far in from the boundary and unable to cling on to a devilishly difficult one-handed chance above his head.
Australia’s World Cup final hero needed no second invitation and crashed 20 fours and five sixes, finishing on an ODI best 154 not out from 129 balls, while Labuschagne contributed an unbeaten 77 in an unbroken 148-run stand with Head to lead the tourists home with six overs to spare.
With Australia’s big three fast bowlers all absent – Pat Cummins is skipping the tour and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were ill for the opener – this was a missed opportunity for an inexperienced England, who fielded two debutants while only Adil Rashid had played 30 or more ODIs.
Rashid and England’s other spinners could not make the same impact as Australia’s, who claimed a combined nine for 190 in 30.4 overs, after Duckett, promoted to open, and Jacks laid excellent foundations when Harry Brook won the toss on his international captaincy debut.
Despite the shorter boundaries here and England’s reputation for all-out attack in the first powerplay, Duckett and Phil Salt struck a more measured tone in the face of some early disciplined fast bowling.
They still went at almost a run a ball while Duckett shovelled four leg-side fours in an over off Sean Abbott, with the left-hander settling alongside Jacks after Salt was bowled by Ben Dwarshuis for 17.
Jacks deposited spinners Matthew Short and Zampa for six as he and Duckett went to bustling fifties. But after his initial three-over burst disappeared for 27, Zampa came up trumps to end a 120-run stand in 101 balls between Duckett and Jacks, who was unable to clear the in-field from a fuller delivery.
Australia captain Mitch Marsh persisted with spin and even though opposite number Brook settled with a pair of towering sixes off Short, the decision to go to Labuschagne proved inspired as he took return catches to dismiss the set batters.
Any hope of England doubling a 30-over score of 201 for two disappeared when Duckett got an innocuous leading edge to a googly that seemed to stick in the surface, while Brook had a suspicious glance at the pitch after tamely chipping back to Labuschagne to depart for 39 off 31 balls.
Marsh continued to dangle the carrot and boundaries were on offer but Jamie Smith holed out for 23 on his ODI bow before Liam Livingstone and Brydon Carse found the bucket hands of Cameron Green off Zampa.
Jacob Bethell carried England past 300 but his spirited 35 on debut could not mask a flat end to the innings, even if Marsh perished early in Australia’s reply when heaving Matthew Potts to Carse.
The Durham pair should have had Head three balls later but Carse was brought in too far from deep point and shelled an overhead chance that would have been simpler had he been kept on the boundary.
While he was then beaten by a beauty by Jofra Archer in his first ODI in 18 months, Head also collected a couple of fours in the over then pulled majestically for six in the next to put England to the sword.
Steve Smith, who received pantomime boos when he walked to the crease, top-edged Archer for six in the pair’s first head-to-head since their gripping 2019 Ashes battle. Smith thumped three sixes in total before falling for 32, caught and bowled by Liam Livingstone.
Adil Rashid, England’s trump card, bowled two tidy overs but was dumped over long-on by Head, who also took Livingstone the distance as the Australia opener continued his rich vein of form from the drawn T20 series.
He brought up a 92-ball hundred but was not finished, belting four fours in an over off Carse before lifting Livingstone straight for six to reach 150.
Labuschagne was a useful foil and made sure of victory by crashing Jacks through point for his seventh four, to go with two sixes.
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