Australia triumph over England in opener

Australia beat England by four runs at The Oval in the first of their seven one-day internationals.

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LONDON // Australia beat England by four runs at The Oval in the first of their seven one-day internationals. England's spinners had done well to restrict Australia to 260 for five with Callum Ferguson scoring an unbeaten 71 and Cameron White also scoring a half-century. It looked an achievable target for the hosts but the tourists got a firm grip on the English run rate with the batsmen jeered by the crowd for their slow scoring. Ravi Bopara (49) and Owais Shah (40) were England's leading scorers but it took a late assault from Luke Wright (38) and Adil Rashid (31 not out) to set up a close finish.

Their seventh-wicket blitz of 46 from 33 balls dragged England back into the game but Mitchell Johnson took three wickets in a 13-ball spell that cost just five runs and England finished on 256 for eight. The second ODI takes place at Lord's on Sunday. * With agencies