An improvement in line and length in the rest of the over from Woakes and Aaron Finch blocks the remaining three balls back down the pitch.

Alex Hales rushes in from mid-on to prevent a single and fizzes the ball into the gloves of Jos Buttler. Buttler is playing in his 100th ODI today by the way.

Short and wide now from Woakes and Finch helps himself to four more.

Two Aussie boundaries in the first three balls...

Charles Dagnall
BBC Test Match Special

An imperious start from Aaron Finch.

Ah. Still confident, people?

Aaron Finch drives the first ball of the series beautifully down the ground through mid-on for four.

What a start.

The pitch looks a belter in Melbourne and a perfect day for cricket with bright sunshine and blue skies.

David Warner and Aaron Finch are out in the middle.

Chris Woakes to Finch to start us off.

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Matt Chapman: Dropping Root down to four to makes room for Hales is a mistake. Root is our best batsman and his game is perfectly suited to three.

Nick: If Bairstow has a successful series at the top of the order, he should surely become an option to open in Tests as well.

Anyway the teams are out on the field in front of a less than half full MCG.

God Save the Queen is followed by Advance Australia Fair.

As Steve Smith pointed out at the toss, Australia's recent ODI form has been underwhelming. It's fair to say they're in a transitional period.

You may well remember back in June England beat the Aussies in the Champions Trophy by 40 runs on the DLS method. Mark Wood and Adil Rashid took four wickets each that day before a century to Ben Stokes.

Australia have in fact only won one of their last eight ODIs.

James Anderson
England fast bowler on BBC Test Match Special

Eoin Morgan is very fortunate to have Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood with their pace, while Chris Woakes is hardly slow. Those three complement the spinners really nicely.

Image source, Getty Images

The last time these sides met in Melbourne was during the 2015 World Cup when England, then under coach Peter Moores, were thrashed by 111 runs before being dumped out of the tournament by Bangladesh a few weeks later. That England team included Ian Bell, Gary Ballance, James Taylor, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

Quite a bit has changed since then.

Of course Australia went on to win that tournament so remain reigning world champions but, thanks to England's one-day transformation under Eoin Morgan, this series on paper looks a closer one than those insignificant Test matches played over the last few weeks.

James Anderson
England fast bowler on BBC Test Match Special

It's good to be hear, relaxing and watching a game of cricket from a distance rather than out in the middle.

It's been a tough few months for us but I'm looking forward to this series.

The Ashes was tiring. The pitches weren't suitable to fast-medium and swing bowling so they were long days but that's what you get in Test cricket.

Australia captain Steve Smith: "I'm not too bothered [about losing the toss]. I would probably have bowled as well but it is a pretty good wicket. It won't change too much.

"The boys are pretty keen to come back and play.

"We have now got to sort out our one-day cricket. It has not been as good as we would have liked in last 12 to 18 months."

BBC Test Match Special

Just to point out Test Match Special is now on air for full commentary on this match.

Jimmy Anderson is part of the TMS team for the series.

You can listen at the top of this page.

England captain Eoin Morgan, speaking at the toss: "We've no bother chasing - it's really good wicket and should be throughout the day and won't deteriorate much. After the rain yesterday, the moisture might still be in it but if not we'll hope to restrict them to a chaseable target.

"The Ashes is a huge spectacle and as good as the pinnacle in our sport so it devastating to lose. Hopefully we can do something in this series to make people at home proud of us.

"The batting line-up may change according to the state of the game.

"This group has been together for 18 months, we're still developing and learning with one eye on the World Cup in 2019."

Eoin Morgan says he was watching the England Test series defeat and that it has been "devastating".

He says the team want to put in a performance that people back home are proud of.

Full quotes coming up.

So I make it four England players in the XI who took part in the Ashes series compared to six Australians.

Alex Hales comes back into the England team for his first competitive international appearance since that night in Bristol and interestingly comes in at three with Joe Root moving down a place to four.

Australia's new faces on the international scene this winter are opener Aaron Finch, batsman Travis Head, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, leg-spinner Adam Zampa and bowler Andrew Tye.

England: Roy, Bairstow, Hales, Root, Morgan (capt), Buttler (wk), Moeen, Woakes, Rashid, Plunkett, Wood.

Australia: Warner, Finch, Smith (capt), Head, M Marsh, Stoinis, Paine (wk), Starc, Cummins, Zampa, Tye.

Breaking news from the toss.

England skipper Eoin Morgan has won it and has elected to field first.

Team news coming up...

Image source, TMS

Hello again! Let's just pretend the last two months didn't happen, OK?

Joe Root is back in the ranks and Eoin Morgan is in town with his swash-buckling band of one-day specialists.

Today all eyes are back on the MCG for the first of five one-day internationals. With the World Cup just 18 months away this is by no means a matter of after the Lord Mayor's Show.