England defeated Australia in the first ODI of the five match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Australian vice captain David Warner dismissed the rumors of an Ashes hangover for the loss.
"As Steve (Smith) said, you've got to celebrate your wins," he told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday (January 17). "It was a long summer for us and, to play the way we did and beat England four-nil, everyone deserves to go out and celebrate. If people think it was over the top, then that's their own opinion. For us, you get one day to sum up (celebrate) a summer and I think we did it in the right sense.”
Australia had scored 305 on back of a brilliant 107 by Aaron Finch and half centuries by Mitchell Marsh (50) and Marcus Stoinis (60). David Warner was dismissed for 2 runs by Mark Wood.
England on the other hand, reached the target with ridiculous ease, all thanks to Jason Roy’s 180 - the time highest ODI score by an English batsman. Roy’s innings featured 16 fours and 5 sixes, before he was dismissed with England on 281. He was well supported by Joe Root, who hit an unbeaten 91. England won the match by 5 wickets and took a 1-0 lead.
"It's irrelevant about an Ashes series. We always come to this time of the year after playing a long series. No matter what series it is, we're up and about," Warner added. "We're playing another game for Australia, it's what we grew up wanting to do."
Warner was dismissed on a vicious short delivery from Mark Wood, who missed the Ashes series. Warner praised Wood and said, "He's always up in the high 140s (kmph), I expect nothing less from him, he's always been an aggressive bowler. Facing what we have in the Test matches and on wickets that weren't as lively, it's a different mode to get into. But there's no excuse from a batting perspective, we should be 'on' all the time."
The second ODI match will be played at the Gabba and Warner is confident of making a big comeback in the series at the ground.
"Every time we come here we come with confidence because we try to make it our fortress in all formats," he said. "You're always confident as an Australian batsman when you come and look at this wicket. You try to keep in your mind that this ground has worked well in Australia's favour but we've got to be on the money."
Australians have suffered a minor setback with keeper Tim Paine falling ill with a bout of gastro and Josh Hazlewood was rested. With Pat Cummins also rested, West Australian quick Jhye Richardson will make his debut if Hazlewood misses.
However, Tim Paine is expected to play in the second ODI.
