Mahli Beardman’s 6/24 on debut puts him in the frame for Australia’s World Cup squad without guaranteeing a starting berth. The tournament is in South Africa next October, and one home win over England proves little about how he bowls on slower pitches with an older ball. His fitness history is the other open question, and a back injury ended his previous season, so the next few matches matter as much as the debut did, even against a beaten England side.
England collapsed to 131 at Optus Stadium, and Beardman took 6/24 from 7.4 overs of it. Johnson’s 3/42 and Bartlett’s 1/46 covered the rest, and Australia chased the target down with seven wickets in hand. The visitors’ fourth, fifth and sixth batters made three runs in total, the lowest combined score from those spots in an ODI.
No Australian had taken an ODI five-for at his age: Beardman is 21, and the 4/27 by Starc in 2010 was the best before turning 22 until now. A wicket every eight balls or so needs no adjectives for a debutant.
Only one Australian had taken five on ODI debut before him, Tony Dodemaide, whose 1988 return of 5/21 was recorded in Perth. Bartlett’s 4/17 from 2024 sits third on the national list of debut bowling.
Counting six-wicket debuts around the world, he is fourth, behind Cassell, Rabada and Edwards. Three of those better hauls came against Oman, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, while Beardman took his against England, and only three Australian ODI performances of any kind rank above his.
Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood sat out this series because the Tests against New Zealand begin on 9 December. A side strain rules out Nathan Ellis. Cummins appeared in one ODI during September in South Africa, the first in almost two years, and the age and Test load of all three make a fresh arrival in 2027 uncertain.
Bartlett and Johnson took wickets in the same match, so the supporting group is crowded as well. Johnson is 30 with eight ODIs, and Bartlett is 27 with 13, so neither has a settled place either. That leaves little room for error.
Team best: 10 wickets, Pakistan/Bangladesh
In September, Mitchell Marsh put the number of games before the tournament at about 10 to 12, with home ODIs against England followed by a New Zealand series in August. George Bailey has called Beardman a potential all-format bowler, a sign of how the selectors rate him. Ten to twelve games leaves little time to audition, so fitness matters as much as wickets.
The counterweights are real. It was a single match, it was at home, and a stress fracture in his back ended his 2026 after the T20I debut in Lahore. He can reportedly top 140 kph, but no figures for the debut were released.
He gets Adelaide on Sunday, then Hobart on Wednesday, on different surfaces. Tournament venues in South Africa and Zimbabwe may offer less bounce than Perth, so wickets taken with an older ball will count for more than a second new-ball burst. That is an easy test to set and a hard one to pass, because two different surfaces within four days rarely suit the same plan.
Selectors also want a run of games without injury. A fit Beardman will make the Mahli Beardman Australia 2027 ODI World Cup case harder to ignore.
Would you pick Beardman ahead of a fit Hazlewood for the 2027 squad, or is one match too small a sample? Tell us in the comments.
What were Beardman’s bowling figures when he debuted?
He took 6/24 from 7.4 overs against England. The match was at Optus Stadium in Perth on 13 November 2026, and Australia won with seven wickets in hand after England made 131.
Who has the best ODI debut figures ever?
Scotland’s Charlie Cassell holds the mark with 7/21. He took them against Oman in 2024, one wicket and three runs better than Beardman’s 6/24, which sits fourth on the list.
He is 21. He comes from Dunsborough in Western Australia and turned 21 on 31 August, which makes him the youngest fast bowler in the contention table by a margin of six years.
The tournament is held across October and November 2027. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia host it, and Australia face India first, on 7 October at Newlands in Cape Town.
Is Beardman certain to play the next game against England?
It is unconfirmed. One preview names him in the probable XI, which it expects to stay unchanged, and a second report suggests resting Johnson and him for Adelaide on 15 November.
