Perth, Nov 13 — England captain Harry Brook looks for a tight turnaround from their first ODI thrashing against Australia at the Optus Stadium here as debutant Mahli Beardman ran through their top order in a strong Aussie win.
Beardman picked up 6-24 to become the first Aussie player to scalp a six-wicket haul on ODI debut as he played an instrumental role in bowling the Three Lions for 131. The hosts went on to win the contest with seven wickets in hand and in 23.3 overs.
Speaking after the loss, Brook hailed Beardman while also aiming for a turnaround in the second game in Adelaide. "Yeah. We've been here for a week and a half or so. We've prepared extremely well. Australia have bowled extremely well. Mahli Beardman was outstanding today. He put the ball in the right areas, got enough out of the surface to dismiss us, and, yeah, they put in a good performance with the ball," Brook told broadcasters after the match.
Brook also stated that the batters had prepared for adapting to the conditions but were blown away by the Australian bowling. "We spoke a lot about adaptability. We want to adapt to different surfaces, and as I said before, we've been here for a week and a half.
"We prepared extremely well. We knew that certain shots weren't going to work on this pitch, but look, the Australian attack bowled extremely well. They put the ball in the right areas for 30-odd overs, and we probably didn't execute our skill well enough," he added.
England are 1-0 behind in the three-match series but are looking to learn from the errors in the opener and bounce back in the second match as they prepare for the ODI World Cup 2027 in African conditions. "Definitely, and that is the bigger picture (World Cup preparations).
"We've got a World Cup in South Africa in 12 months' time, and these experiences, we take them, we learn from them as much as we possibly can. We're not out of this series yet. We've been in this position a couple of times before and managed to bounce back. So hopefully we can do that when we get to Adelaide," he said.