England v Australia: Matthew Wade stars as tourists win first ODI

A stuttering England batting display handed Australia a 59-run victory at Southampton in the first game of their five-match one-day series.

Adil Rashid’s 4-59 reduced the Aussies to 193-6 but Matthew Wade (71 not out) added 112 with Mitchell Marsh (40 not out) to help the tourists post 305-6.

Jason Roy (67) led England’s reply but fell when well set, as did James Taylor (49) and captain Eoin Morgan (38).

England lost three wickets in four balls at one stage and their last seven for 94 runs before being bowled out with 27 balls to spare.

Coming off the back of Monday’s five-run victory in the Twenty20 international at Cardiff, England made four changes from their last ODI against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street in June.

Taylor replaced the rested Joe Root at three, Jos Buttler returned with the gloves in place of Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings and David Willey were omitted in favour of Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes. Australia had just five survivors from their World Cup-winning side in March.

Matthew Wades-in for Australia

Having won the toss and elected to bat, it was an innings of three parts from Australia.

A solid platform saw Joe Burns (44) and David Warner (59) put on 76 for the first wicket before a mid-innings wobble, when Steve Smith’s side lost four wickets for 29 runs in the space of six overs.

But wicketkeeper Wade, whose unbeaten 71 not out came off 50 balls, recovered from being involved in the run-out of Shane Watson to share a vital seventh-wicket stand with Marsh.

The innings was even more impressive considering the 27-year-old Tasmanian took nine balls to get off the mark before striking 12 fours in his 48th ODI appearance.

Wade’s return to the green and gold was to get even sweeter in the field when he took three catches with the gloves.

Run chase promises much but lacks end product

England’s pursuit of 306 started with two promising innings from Roy and Taylor.

But both surrendered impressive starts when they gave their wickets away and England’s reply fell flat.

Surrey opener Roy put on 70 with opening partner Alex Hales (22) and reached his first ODI half-century off 49 balls with 10 fours.

But, just as he looked set to bat through the innings, he slashed Glenn Maxwell to point to be dismissed for 67 off 64 balls.

Taylor struck an impressive straight six off Marsh but the diminutive right-hander gifted his wicket one shy of 50 when he swung and missed at a straight one from Watson.

After a recovery of sorts between Morgan and Ben Stokes, England lost three wickets in four balls without adding a run to slump from 194-4 to 194-7.

Some late glimpses of class from Moeen and Rashid were not enough to mount a rearguard.

Adil has his day

Rashid has been a man much talked about throughout this summer with many clamouring for his inclusion during the Ashes.

The Yorkshire leg-spinner has been handed his opportunities in the limited-overs side despite his Test omission, and is tipped to be England’s second spinner when they face Pakistan in the UAE in October.

Introduced to the attack after just 10 overs, his first wicket came courtesy of a full toss as Burns returned a sharp catch.

That appeared to be the lucky break he needed as he went on to claim the first four wickets of the Australia innings, accounting for Warner, Smith and George Bailey.

It may not have been the 27-year-old’s most polished spell of bowling, but he was rewarded for his continued use of flighted deliveries to entice false shots.

Fellow spinner Moeen provided valuable support at the other end with 0-37 off his eight overs.

The two teams meet in the second ODI of the series at Lord’s on Saturday (10:30 BST).

What they said

England captain Eoin Morgan: “We lost it in the 10 or 15 overs in the middle of the chase when Australia bowled pretty well. We got off to a fantastic start and when we get off to a start like that we should be chasing down 305.

“We’ll look back at our plans and execution and try and improve for Lord’s. I was pleased with Adil Rashid, he has come on in leaps and bounds. For him to come out and hold his nerve, I was very impressed.”

Australia captain Steve Smith: “I thought the boys played nicely. We had a little hiccup in the middle order but Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh did well to get us to that score.

“With the new ball it came on nice but it was two-paced when the ball got older. We knew we would have to bowl well and we did that.”

New series, new regulations

Within days of England’s run-drenched series against New Zealand in June, the International Cricket Council adopted new playing conditions in a bid to redress the balance between bat and ball.

Gone is the mandatory five-over batting powerplay, usually taken between overs 35 and 40, and in its place are three distinct powerplays.

These are the very same conditions under which this season’s domestic One-Day Cup has been played.

Despite the new fielding restrictions for the last 10 overs allowing an extra, fifth fielder outside the inner circle, Australia added 93 without loss in that period to show bat still maintains a degree of superiority over ball.