THE OVAL: England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to field against Australia in the first one-day international (ODI) at the Oval here on Friday.

England made three changes to the side that beat Ireland by three runs in an ODI in Belfast last Thursday.

Opening batsman Joe Denly, who made 67 on debut in that match, was ruled out after sustaining a leg injury while involved in a football warm-up here on Thursday.

His place was taken by returning Ashes-winning captain Strauss, rested from the trip to Ireland.

Ashes hero Stuart Broad replaced top-order batsman Jonathan Trott and James Anderson took over from fellow paceman Tim Bresnan.

Australia made four changes to the side that thrashed Scotland by 189 runs last Friday, omitting Twenty20 specialists David Warner, David Hussey and Dirk Nannes, as well as Adam Voges.

In came Callum Ferguson, James Hopes, Michael Hussey and Nathan Bracken.

This was the first of a seven-match series after two Twenty20s in Manchester ended in no-result washouts.

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wkt), Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Luke Wright, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson

Australia: Shane Watson, Tim Paine (wkt), Cameron White, Michael Clarke (capt), Callum Ferguson, Michael Hussey, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Nathan Bracken

Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV umpire: Peter Hartley (ENG)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)