Mahli Beardman: Australia’s New Fast-Bowling Sensation
Mahli Beardman walked off the Perth turf with England in ruins and Australia buzzing about a new fast-bowling force. His plan for the night? Nothing grand. No wild party, no headline-chasing celebration.
“Try and get down to the beach.”
That is Mahli Beardman in a sentence. Twenty-one years old, blond hair, surfboard in mind, and now the owner of the best bowling figures by an Australian on one-day international debut: 6-24. On his first ODI. On home soil. Against England.
A surf kid who rattled England
Perth has produced its share of quicks who make batters uneasy, but Beardman did more than that. He dismantled England and set up a crushing Australian win with a spell that felt both laid-back and ruthless.
Mitchell Marsh, his captain and fellow Western Australian, could barely hide his admiration.
"I would love to live my life like him – pretty carefree, loves the ocean and loves to learn about fast bowling," Marsh said, smiling like an older brother who knows he’s just seen something special.
Australia, still carrying the scars of sandpaper scandals in the public consciousness, suddenly had a very different kind of symbol. For Beardman, sandpaper is not a tool of controversy. It’s something you use to clean up a surfboard.
Yet this wasn’t some overnight fairytale. The easy grin masks a harder story.
Promise, pain and doubt
Two years ago, Beardman was a name on a team sheet without a body of work behind it. With only one professional game to his name, he toured England with Australia’s white-ball squads after impressing at the Under-19 World Cup. He didn’t play, but those who watched him steam in during interval spells, hair streaming behind him, saw a glimpse of the future.
Mitchell Johnson’s demolition of England in the 2013-14 Ashes had first dragged him into the sport. From there, he sought out the greats. Dennis Lillee, another Australian Ashes icon, has helped shape him since his teenage years. The raw materials were obvious: accuracy, snap through the crease, and pace that looks almost casual until you see the speed gun.
Then came the brutal reality of fast bowling.
In 2025 he suffered the first of two stress injuries in his back – the curse that stalks every young quick. The second came cruelly on the back of his first international appearance, a T20 in Pakistan in January where he took 2-33. Two weeks before that, he had roughed up Steve Smith in a Big Bash play-off, dismissing and unsettling the modern great and firing up the hype even more.
Then the body gave way again.
"There is always doubt," Beardman admitted after his match-winning performance in Perth. "I don't think I ever lost my love for the game, it was more 'Will I come back and be able to bowl the same and will the air speed be there?'"
On Friday night, those doubts died at the WACA’s spiritual successor.
Pace, precision and a cold heart
Across 7.4 overs, Beardman averaged 86.5 mph – the quickest match of his professional career. His fastest ball hit 90.6 mph, again a personal best. The numbers underline the pace, but they don’t fully explain the control.
England rarely saw anything they could free their arms at. His line was tight, his length nagging. The ball didn’t hoop extravagantly; it didn’t need to. It kissed the seam, moved just enough, and kept asking questions.
Harry Brook was first to pay. Early in Beardman’s second over, a hint of movement, a probing line, and Brook’s outside edge carried away for Beardman’s first ODI wicket.
"After I got the first wicket, Zamps [Adam Zampa] ran up, tapped me on the back and said 'keep a level head, mate'," Beardman said. "That helped calm the adrenaline a little bit."
The calm showed. Joe Root, England’s anchor, edged a drive he never quite had under control. Jordan Cox followed, prodding tentatively and nicking off. Then came a different kind of message: a sharp bouncer to Sam Curran, hurried and hooked to fine leg. Not just a swing bowler, then. A quick with the tools to push batters around.
"He bowled lively, got it to swing both ways, and his control was immaculate," said former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody on BBC Test Match Special. "I don't think his heart rate went up much."
Moody has seen fast bowlers in every corner of the franchise world. The fact this was his first live look at Beardman in an ODI said plenty about the youngster’s inexperience: this was only his 12th professional 50-over match, to go with 14 T20s. A first-class debut still sits tantalisingly on the horizon.
“He’s got it”
Those who have watched him closely in the Big Bash have been waiting for this. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has long been struck by Beardman’s presence as much as his skill.
"I've seen him in the Big Bash and he just has that persona," Vaughan said. "Sometimes you look at sportspeople and say 'yes, they have got it'.
“It's hard to explain what they have got. It's the way he strolls around. He is playing the game like it's his club side.
“If he stays fit, he has an incredible career ahead of him."
That’s the caveat that will follow every sentence about Mahli Beardman from now on: if he stays fit. The back injuries are part of his story already, not a warning on the label. They’ve shaped the bowler who ran in at Perth – a little wiser, a little more patient, still utterly fearless.
For one night, though, the questions about longevity and workload could wait. Australia had a new fast bowler tearing through England, a captain in Marsh beaming with pride, and a young quick who wanted nothing more than to swap the roar of the crowd for the sound of waves crashing on the Western Australian coast.
If this is how his story begins, what does the next chapter look like when the ocean kid truly finds his stride?
