MELBOURNE: Jason Roy scored an England record 180 from 151 balls and shared a 221-run partnership with Joe Root in a one-day international victory that ended a drought for the tourists in Australia.
Coming off a 4-0 loss in the five-test Ashes series, England won the toss and sent Australia in to bat Sunday in the series-opening ODI, then chased down the target of 305 with seven balls and five wickets to spare.
The South Africa-born Roy was dominant from the start of the chase and surpassed Alex Hales' record of 171 — against Pakistan at Nottingham in 2016 — as the highest ever ODI score for England. He improved on his own high score of 162 against Sri Lanka at the Oval in 2016 June.
His fourth ODI hundred contained 16 boundaries and five sixes and gave him two of the four biggest ODI innings ever for England before he eventually skied a catch into the outfield from Mitchell Starc's bowling when England was 24 runs from victory.
Root was unbeaten on 91 at the end as England reached 308-5 in the 49th over, having joined Roy in the sixth over when England was 60-2.
"Incredibly special," Roy said. "It was just a huge honor to be out there for England again. We had good fun out there."
Australia captain Steve Smith said his team's total was almost 40 runs short of expected, and the early bowlers came under attack from England's top order.
Roy "played spectacularly well — chanced his arm and it came off. They got off to an absolute flyer," Smith said. "He was supported really well by Joe Root as well.
"We need to start playing better cricket and getting some wins on the board in this format."
England captain Eoin Morgan said the return of Roy, who missed selection in the Champions Trophy last year, and Root's shift down to No. 4 had really lengthened the batting lineup.
"Incredible from Jason. He's quite imposing as a batsman," Morgan said. "What a way to start the series — still a long way to go, but certainly a great start."
The World Cup champion Australians posted 304-8, with opener Aaron Finch scoring 107 and putting on 118 in a fourth-wicket partnership with Mitchell Marsh (50).
England took the early advantage when it dismissed key batsman David Warner (2) and Steve Smith (23) inside the first 11 overs. When Travis Head was out for 5 to the last ball of the 14th over, Australia was in trouble at 78-3.
But Finch reached his ninth ODI century — his fourth against England — and Marsh posted his 10th ODI half century to revive the innings.
When Finch reached 75 he surpassed 3,000 ODI runs and went on to a century from 112 balls, raising the milestone with a six off legspinner Adil Rashid, the third of his innings.
He was out soon after, mis-hitting a ball from Moeen Ali that was caught by Jonny Bairstow at wide mid-wicket. Marcus Stoinis scored 60 down the order, reaching his second ODI half century from 37 balls with five fours and a six.
Game two of the five-match series will be in Brisbane on Friday.
Jason Roy breaks record as England beat Australia in first ODI
Jason Roy breaks record as England beat Australia in first ODI
Jordan make history as they reach Arab Cup final for first time with narrow victory over Saudi Arabia
- Green Falcons left to rue squandered chances as they miss out on what would have been their first final appearance in the competition since 2002
- Semi-final victory comes during a stellar year for Jordan in which they also qualified for the World Cup for the first time ever
DOHA: A header by Nizar Al-Rashdan gave Jordan a 1-0 victory in a tense match against Saudi Arabia on Monday and sent them to their first Arab Cup final.
Deprived of the services of Yazan Al-Naimat, who suffered a devastating knee injury in their quarter-final against Iraq, Jordan delivered a brave performance, greatly limiting the Saudi attacking threat across the 90 minutes.
The semi-final at Al-Bayt Stadium in Qatar attracted the highest attendance of the tournament so far, a vibrant crowd of 62,825. Both sides began cautiously, with Jordan lining up in a robust 5-4-1 formation that sought to restrict Salem Al-Dawsari and Saleh Abou Al-Shamat in the final third.
The game opened up a little after the break, as a tactical change from Jordan helped them gain greater control on the counterattack. Mohammed Abu Zrayq in particular proved influential down the right flank as he stretched the Saudi defense and gave the Nashama more attacking momentum.
The decisive moment, however, came from the opposite side. Mahmoud Al-Mardi delivered a dipping cross from the left, catching the Green Falcons’ defense off guard, and Al-Rashdan rose to head home the only goal of the match in the 66th minute.
Saudi Arabia responded with a series of substitutions, including the introduction of Al-Qadsiah midfielder Musab Al-Juwayr. The former Al-Hilal player helped link play between Al-Dawsari and Feras Al-Brikan down the left channel as the Saudis pressed for the equalizer.
Al-Brikan and then Saleh Al-Shehri both went close but Yazeed Abulaila stood firm in goal, producing a crucial save just minutes after Jordan took the lead.
The match ended on a particularly sour note for Saudi Arabia when last man Waleed Al-Ahmed was shown a straight red card in the closing moments after bringing down an opponent to halt a counterattack, as Jordan saw out their historic victory.
They now face Morocco, who earlier in the day defeated the UAE 3-0, in the final on Thursday.
