Australia’s 21-year-old pacer Mahli Beardman made a dream start to his international career by tearing through England’s batting line-up.
He claimed six wickets on his ODI debut in Perth on Friday, according to reporting from “Yahoo Sports”.
With figures of 6/24, Beardman became the first Australian male fast bowler to take a six-wicket haul on ODI debut.
This achievement broke a record that had stood for 38 years in international cricket, per the same article.
The young pacer also became only the second Australian male bowler to take five or more wickets in his first ODI.
England was bowled out for just 131 runs in the series opener at the Perth Stadium pitch.
Early in the match, Beardman removed England captain Harry Brook before sending Joe Root back to the pavilion.
This early double blow left England struggling at 55/4 after 14 overs of play.
Social media updates shared via “FanCode” highlighted the mounting pressure on the visitors.
Beardman continued to trouble the batting side by adding the wickets of Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, and Jofra Archer.
His performance surpassed the previous record held by Tony Dodemaide.
Dodemaide had taken five wickets on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on January 2, 1988, at the WACA in Perth.
Additional coverage provided by “Cricket Australia” noted that Beardman recorded the fourth-best figures overall in men’s cricket history on debut.
Speaking to Australia great Mike Hussey during the innings break, Beardman admitted that he had been nervous before the match.
“I’m not sure what’s just happened,” Beardman told Hussey, as quoted by “Yahoo Sports”.
“It all happened very quickly but it’s just a great honour to represent my country and to take a few wickets is the cherry on top,” the young pacer added.
Reflecting on his nerves at the start of the game, Beardman stated, “I was pretty nervous early.”
He concluded by saying, “First ball just trying to hit the cut stuff, and once that got out the way everything started to feel natural.”