Australia cruise to six-wicket victory over England

Dawid Malan scored a century to help England fight back from 66 for 4 but Australia made easy work of chasing 288

Adelaide: England 287-9, Australia 291-4 - Australia won by six wickets

Scorecard

Australia cruised to a six-wicket victory over England in the first ODI in Adelaide.

Dawid Malan scored a century to help England fight back from 66 for 4 but Australia made easy work of chasing 288, getting over the line with 19 balls to spare thanks to half-centuries from David Warner, Travis Head and Steve Smith.

Having won his first toss as ODI skipper and elected to bowl, Pat Cummins' bright start continued with the ball, with the right-armer picking up two early wickets as England's top order crumbled inside 14 overs.

Phil Salt (14) began his innings with a flurry of early boundaries before edging Cummins (3 for 62) to Smith at second slip and two balls later, Mitchell Starc (1 for 45) bowled Jason Roy to leave England two down inside five overs.

^{Dawid Malan scored a century for England [Sarah Reed/Getty Images]}

Cummins picked up his second in the eighth over, James Vince caught behind by Alex Carey for five, while Marcus Stoinis (1 for 23) accounted for Sam Billings in the 14th to bring an end to his 35-run partnership with Malan.

Jos Buttler's arrival sparked the match into life, with the England skipper playing offensively from the off, and together with Malan, he added 52 runs for the fifth wicket.

He picked out Ashton Agar in the deep to depart for 29 (34) in the 24th but Malan soldiered on, bringing up his half-century off 64 balls and later converting it to a century – his second in 10 ODIs – off 107 deliveries.

Good stands with Liam Dawson and Chris Jordan came and went before a 60-run partnership off 51 balls with David Willey for the eighth wicket carried England beyond the 250-mark.

However, Adam Zampa (3 for 55) prevented Malan from walking off unbeaten, combining with Agar to remove England's No.3 for 134 (128) in the 46th and picking up his third wicket in the process.  

Willey finished unbeaten on 34 (40) as England closed on 287 for 9, with debutant Luke Wood (10) the final wicket to fall.

^{David Warner was one of three players to score a half-century for Australia [Sarah Reed/Getty Images]}

In reply, Warner and Head, the latter auditioning to become Aaron Finch's long-term replacement at the top of the order, hit the ground running, racing to 65 without loss after 10 overs.

Warner brought up his half-century off 44 balls in the 14th, his 27th in ODI cricket, and Head followed suit in the 16th, with his fifty coming off 46 deliveries.

Head was eventually removed for 69 (57), caught by Salt off Jordan, but it did little to halt Australia's momentum, with Warner and Smith combining for a 53-run second-wicket partnership.

Warner departed in the 29th over, caught by Billings off Willey for 86 (84), and the bowler soon had his second, Marnus Labuschagne caught behind to reduce Australia to 206 for 3.

Carey was then removed for 21 (28), caught by Salt off Dawson, but Smith and Green saw their side safely over the line without further loss, Smith finishing unbeaten on 80 from 78 and Green 20 off 28.