England’s one-day reset hit an immediate speed bump after a lack of pace on the ball contributed to a batting implosion against illness-stricken Australia.
Against opponents missing their fast bowling giants, England somehow contrived to lose their last eight wickets for 102, allowing Travis Head, the man who guided Australia to World Cup final glory over India 10 months ago to hit another match-defining hundred.
Head’s unbeaten 156, the highest one-day international score by an Australian in this country, followed two wickets with ball in hand as the tourists’ bit-part spinners were gifted a clutch of dismissals.
Marnus Labuschagne, who claimed a career-best three for 39 with his occasional leg-spin at the start of this five-match series, later combined in an unbroken century stand with Head as Australia completed the third highest chase in Nottingham ODIs with 36 balls and seven wickets to spare.
But England relinquished the opportunity to take advantage of their opponents’ ill fortune by batting them out of the game, losing nine wickets all told to spin in their first 50-over outing since it was announced Brendon McCullum had been given universal coaching control.
Travis Head scored an unbeaten 154 for Australia as they beat England in the first ODI of the series in Nottingham
Harry Brook (right) captained England to start their new era with Jos Buttler out injured
Brendon McCullum will lead the era as coach, but will ot officially start his role until the new year
McCullum does not officially start until the new year, but all the talk has been of transferring the dynamism England have shown in Test cricket to their white-ball play. They will get the chance for immediate bounce-back in Leeds on Saturday.
With its small dimensions and fast outfield, Trent Bridge is a high-scoring ground. Indeed, England crunched a then world record 481 for six the last time these two cricketing foes met here in a one-day international six years ago.
They appeared on for another sizeable total after Harry Brook marked his first match as England’s stand-in captain by winning the toss.
Unperturbed by the loss of Phil Salt inside the first block of power play overs, Ben Duckett and Will Jacks exposed the mix-and-match nature of the Australian bowling unit in a second-wicket stand of 120 in 17 overs.
The chief victim of their aggression during this period was Adam Zampa, so often Australia’s banker with the ball: Jacks danced down the pitch to loft his second delivery for six while Duckett created scoring gaps by forcing changes in the field via an array of sweeps.
Both batters cruised to half-centuries at better than a run a ball and the departure of Jacks at the start of Zambia’s second spell should have been no more than a blip.
For the second match running, Duckett threw away a hundred. Earlier this month, a poorly executed scoop left him 16 runs shy in Test defeat to Sri Lanka, and here on his home ground he had got to within five when a prod at a googly that stuck in the surface was pounced upon in his follow through by Marnus Labuschagne.
Australia came into this contest seeking a 13th straight one-day international victory, but were left under-strength due to a sickness bug sweeping through their camp: Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell all reported unwell and were joined on the sidelines by Leeds-raised wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, who had a thigh niggle.
Australia went into the game seeking a 13th-straight ODI victory, though were under strength
Ben Duckett, opening for England, carried over his fine form from the Test summer in the game
He was left ruing his dismissal, however, as he fell five runs short of a century as England batted first
To further test their resources, 30-year-old debutant Ben Dwarshuis injured a pectoral muscle throwing in from the boundary, limiting him to a four-over opening spell that accounted for Phil Salt and forcing Australia captain Mitchell Marsh to turn to part-time bowling options to make up his side’s 50-over allocation.
In that regard, it helped that Australia included 10 serviceable bowlers in their XI, and Marsh opted for a bevvy of spin to support trump card Adam Zampa, on the occasion of his 100th appearance.
The policy could hardly have worked better as a series of sixes were punctuated by miscues into waiting Australian hands.
Brook countered the loss of Duckett with a flurry of boundaries, but when he and Jamie Smith succumbed within three overs of each other, it left Jacob Bethell to guide the tail into the 50th over with 35 from 34 balls on debut.
A total of 316 felt significantly under-par, however, unless England were able to do something their opponents had not – take early wickets.
Jofra Archer is using this series to build up his overall fitness following three years of injury issues – with a view to him being match ready for next year’s Ashes down under.
Archer, 29, had previously been restricted to Twenty20 cricket in 2024, and this first ODI appearance in 18 months represented a chance to begin piecing longer spells together on his comeback journey.
The pace of old was certainly evident with the new ball as the 2019 World Cup winner regularly hit 89 miles per hour, but Australia turned it upon him when he switched to the Stuart Broad end: Head flicking over the square leg boundary and Steve Smith adding a second six of the eighth over with a top edge over fine leg.
Jofra Archer is using the series to build towards fitness after previosuly being restricted to T20s only
But he could do little to stop Head, who won the game for Australia – the second game is in Leeds on Saturday
Things might have been different had Brydon Carse managed to cling on to a reverse cup grab sliced to deep point by Head, on six, in the same over Marsh had picked out deep square leg.
Carse would arguably have swallowed the chance had he remained 10 yards further back but being slightly off was symbolic of England’s day.
