Xavier Bartlett generated nearly 1.0° of average seam movement in his first over - more than he has ever managed in any of the six opening overs he has bowled for Australia in ODIs.

Not pretty from Tom Banton but he gets four. He tries to slap the ball over the leg side, gets a thick edge and it flies over the slips to the boundary.

Four more! That's a much nicer shot. Just timed to the right of mid-on and the ball runs away to the fence.

Plenty of pace and bounce, as you'd expected in Perth, to encourage the bowlers but England off to a quick start.

Adam Voges
Ex-Australia batter and Perth Scorchers coach

It's great to see this pace and bounce - you often see the ball flying behind the wicket early on.

Since 2018, England have played eight ODI matches against Australia in Australia, winning four and losing four.

The Australia bowlers seem to be trying to outdo each other for who can bowl the best first ball!

Left-armer Spencer Johnson gets with a beauty as well; full, fast and angling across Tim Banton, who is again beaten by the pace and bounce.

He does very well not to nick it.

Ben Duckett glances fine for the first boundary of the innings.

The England left-hander was beaten a couple of balls earlier but this time Xavier Bartlett strays a little too straight and Duckett just has to get a tickle on it.

Beauty to start!

Tom Banton is beaten by a cracker from Xavier Bartlett that pitches on a good length but nips and bounces to beat the bat.

More bounce next ball and Banton sends a thick edge down to deep third for a single. England, not entirely convincingly, are off the mark.

Right then, back to the Optus Stadium and, national anthems sung, the England openers are striding out to the middle.

The first ball is just a few moments away. Xavier Bartlett will bowl the first over for Australia.

Image source, Getty Images

David Warner speaking on Fox Cricket: "I stick with Uzzie. It's the truth. The captain threw Uzzie under the bus.

"We've got to live with the consequence daily.

"I feel it was a botched investigation. To get it over and done with. This won't rest.

"I'm not going to accept [things] until the truth is out."

Matt Prior
Ex-England wicketkeeper on TNT Sports

It was always going to gather huge momentum and Usman Khawaja knew that. It's very sad, it was a very sad time for both the Australian cricket team and the integrity of cricket in general.

Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney

Facing more than a dozen TV cameras, and a gaggle of reporters several times as large, Cummins answered questions for over an hour - determined to put so-called "sandpapergate" to rest.

He was patient and cautious, pausing often to consider his responses and to make sure they answered the questions being asked of him, even at one point shooing away a minder from Cricket Australia who tried to wrap things up.

Cummins was careful in his criticism of Khawaja, despite needling questions from the media gathered, but he was also frank - using strong words to reject his claims and admitting he was annoyed Khawaja had put him in this position.

He spoke of a mix of amusement and uneasiness at the camera crews now parked outside his house. Rejected media speculation that his captaincy could be under threat. Admitted he was struggling to reconcile his years-long friendship with Khawaja with the events of the past week: "That's something I've been grappling with the last couple of days... friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations."

But gesturing to the Sheffield Shield match going on outside the batting nets, and referencing the ODI about to begin in Perth, he said he was also incredibly frustrated that the sandpapergate scandal is still a distraction for Australian cricket.

"It's been eight years. We're moving on. So ‌you got to draw a line at some point."

Of course, we will be focusing on the game in Perth this fine (by which I mean dark and cold here in the UK) Friday morning.

But we can't ignore Pat Cummins' comments in Sydney so we'll bring you reaction to that as well.

What a combination for you - and all long before the sun comes up!

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Cooper Connolly, Matt Renshaw, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Jack Edwards, Xavier Bartlett, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Mahli Beardman

England: Ben Duckett, Tom Banton, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jordan Cox (wk), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer

England captain Harry Brook: "We'd have had a bowl if we won the toss but you need to do both so we'll take it on.

"We've had a great week and a half of training which we don't often get so it's nice to be together."

Australia captain Mitch Marsh: "Look to get a read on the conditions. Historically, I don't think this wicket will change at all and we like to chase. Hopefully we can get off to a good start with the ball.

"It' the start of the summer for us, for all our teams. It's a three-match series, that first game is always important. Really looking forward to it."

On Mahli Beardman's debut: "It's going to be exciting for him. Probably no better place as a young West Australian to debut. A fantastic stadium."

The coin comes down in favour of Australia and captain Mitchell Marsh opts to bowl first.

England skipper Harry Brook says he isn't too upset to have to bat first, albeit he'd have looked to chase as well.

Still no Adil Rashid for the tourists, while fast bowler Mahli Beardman is handed a debut by Australia.

"Utter nonsense" and "100% wrong".

Thoughts on the decision to split these white-ball games in Australia and schedule them a year later rather just have them before or after the Ashes?

No, the views of Australia Test captain Pat Cummins on Usman's Khawaja's claims over the sandpaper scandal in a remarkable 68-minute news conference earlier this morning.

It all means this first ODI between the Aussies and England feels very much like it is playing second-fiddle today but, regardless, we're here, so are the players so let's do it!

Time for news from the toss...