England were bowled out for 131 and beaten by seven wickets in the first one-day international in Perth, a heavy defeat that offered Australia a welcome distraction from the ongoing sandpaper scandal. Hours after Pat Cummins publicly hit back at Usman Khawaja's ball-tampering allegations, England's innings collapsed as 21-year-old fast bowler Mahli Beardman, making his ODI debut, returned figures of six for 24, the best by an Australian on ODI debut.

England, who had prepared carefully for the tour and beaten Western Australia in a warm-up at the WACA, were reduced to 65 for eight at one stage before a late rally by the tail took them to 131 all out. Beardman struck early, getting Harry Brook caught behind in his second over, then removing Joe Root for 17, who had just become the third Englishman to reach 200 ODI appearances. He also dismissed Tom Banton, whose 25 was one of only three scores above 20, along with Jordan Cox and Sam Curran, who fell for a seven-ball duck. Many of England's dismissals came from drives on the up, echoing their struggles in last winter's Ashes on the same ground.S1S2

Australia's chase was led by captain Mitch Marsh, who thrashed 50 off just 30 balls, and they reached the target with 26.3 overs to spare. Travis Head was bowled cheaply by Gus Atkinson, and Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were rested, so Australia fielded an inexperienced attack. Marsh had repeatedly declined to answer questions about ball tampering at his news conference, and the sandpaper controversy continued to dominate the wider narrative, with David Warner accusing Cummins of throwing Khawaja under the bus on Australian television.S1S2

England, who lost their tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka last month and have won only one of their past five matches, now face pressure ahead of the second ODI in Adelaide on Sunday, a game that starts at 03:30 GMT. The series is part of England's preparations for next year's World Cup.S1S2