Australia rest Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood as Brook's England open the ODI series in Perth

Australia and England begin a three-match ODI series at Perth Stadium on Friday with their first-choice attacks broken up by rest and injury

Australia have left Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood out of their 14-man squad to keep them fresh for the Test summer, handing the new ball to a far younger group led by Xavier Bartlett.

England's absences are not a choice. Jacob Bethell has been sent home after a setback in his recovery from a knee injury and Josh Tongue has been ruled out with a left big toe injury, with James Coles and Eddie Jack called up as replacements.

Mitchell Marsh captains Australia and Harry Brook leads England, who have not won a bilateral ODI series against Australia since a 5-0 result in June 2018. The day-night match starts at 11:30am local time.

Australia keep their Test bowlers in reserve

The three quicks who will carry Australia's Test summer have been left out of the white-ball leg altogether, and Nathan Ellis is still recovering from a side strain picked up on the tour of Africa.

That leaves Bartlett as the most experienced seamer in the squad, with 23 wickets from 12 ODIs in a career that began with 4-17 on debut in 2024. He has taken 16 wickets in two Sheffield Shield matches this season.

Mahli Beardman, 21, is in line for an ODI debut, with Spencer Johnson and Jack Edwards alongside him in a pace group of little international experience.

Cameron Green is in the squad but is not certain to bowl, having come out of the Test series with a shoulder complaint. Adam Zampa remains the one settled selection in the attack.

England count the cost of a difficult month

Bethell's departure is the heaviest of England's blows, and the setback has also put his availability for the Test tour of South Africa in doubt.

Jos Buttler is unavailable through injury, so Jordan Cox is expected to keep wicket, while Tongue's toe has cost the tourists a frontline seamer before a ball has been bowled.

Jofra Archer, rested for England's trip to Pakistan, returns to a 16-man squad that also carries Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson, though Perth's pace has historically offered spinners little.

A ground that has not been kind to batters

Perth Stadium has staged only four men's ODIs, and teams have averaged 171 in the first innings there, the lowest rate at any Australian ground to have hosted more than one.

The first international at the venue, in 2018, went England's way by 12 runs after they were bowled out for 259, Tom Curran taking 5-35 and Andrew Tye five wickets for Australia.

Australia's most recent ODI at the ground, against India in October 2025, brought a seven-wicket win and ended a three-match losing run in the city.

Series history favours the hosts

Australia have won six of the last eight bilateral ODI series between the two countries, the last three of them in succession.

Neither side arrives in form. Australia have won half of their last 12 ODIs, a 3-0 sweep of Zimbabwe in September set against 2-1 defeats to Pakistan and Bangladesh in June and to South Africa late in the same month.

England started 2026 with a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka in Colombo and a 2-1 home win over India, then lost three consecutive matches in a tri-series in Pakistan and failed to reach the final.

The series also comes less than a year out from the next men's ODI World Cup.

Runs have not been England's problem

Brook arrives having made 202 off 116 balls against Sri Lanka last month, the fastest double-century in ODI cricket.

Ben Duckett made 167 off 132 in his most recent innings, and Tom Banton has passed fifty six times in his last seven, including 126 at The Oval in September.

Joe Root has scored 680 runs in ODIs in 2026 at an average of 85, the best calendar-year return of his career.

Australia's answer is built around Travis Head and Josh Inglis, with Matthew Renshaw and Ollie Peake asked to fill the middle order that Marsh's seniors have vacated.

The series continues at Adelaide Oval on 15 November and at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on 18 November.