Australia 4-270 (Aaron Finch 121, David Warner 65, Michael Clarke 43, Joe Root 1-11) beat England 7-269 (Gary Ballance 79, Eoin Morgan 50, Clint McKay 3-44) by six wickets.

Aaron Finch dispatched a breezy ton and piled up a sterling first wicket partnership with David Warner as the Kangaroos clinched the first ODI vs. England.

The visitors scored 269 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs and the hosts thrashed 4-270 with 26 balls still available.

Aaron Finch (Australia) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his superb hundred.

The first One Day International of the five match series was played on Sunday, January 12, 2014, at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Earlier, Alastair Cook won the toss for England, preferred to bat first and went back to the pavilion along with Joe Root at 22. Gary Ballance and Ian Bell took the score to 62 before the latter was gone for 41 and was replaced by Eoin Morgan. The run rate was picked up by the batsmen and Morgan attained his 20^th ODI fifty in the 32^nd over but lost his wicket for 50. Ballance achieved his maiden half century two overs later and shared few little associations with the incoming batsmen. He was the seventh one to be dismissed at 79, Jos Buttler secured his end for 34 as the Englishmen reached 7-269.

Clint McKay was the highest wicket taker with three whereas Nathan Coulter-Nile, Glenn Maxwell, Xavier Doherty and James Faulkner shared one wicket each.

Aaron Finch and David Warner went down for chase and the first got a lucky break at eight when he was dropped by Ballance off Chris Jordan. Finch survived a review and was dropped again while Warner was let off at 9 as well and the duo did not look back after that. Finch was the most attacking of the two and went past his half century in the 14^th over with a four and Warner got his seventh ODI fifty in the 22^nd one. The openers contributed 163 in 27.5 overs when the latter became the first victim for 65.

The second wicket fell two runs later as the Australian skipper, Michael Clarke, joined in with Finch who smashed his second ODI century in the process. The pair kept on enhancing the score and Aaron Finch was caught finally by Ballance off Ben Stokes for 121. Michael Clarke managed 43 as the Kangaroos piled up 270 with six wickets remaining in 45.4 overs.

Chris Jordan, Tim Bresnan, Ben Stokes and Joe Root were the successful bowlers with one wicket each.

Australia grabbed the first ODI with a big margin of six wickets and leads the series at 1-0.