England fell to a four-wicket loss to Australia in the opening ODI of the Women’s Ashes at North Sydney Oval.

The tourists could only manage 204 all out and Australia eased home with 67 balls to spare after Alyssa Healy’s 70 and 42 not out from Ashleigh Gardner.

After being sent in to bat first, opener Maia Bouchier was an early victim before captain Heather Knight set a strong pace at the crease.

She combined with Tammy Beaumont and later Nat Sciver-Brunt to put some pressure on the Aussies before she was dismissed by Gardner for 39 off 48 balls.

With England at 92 for three following Knight’s exit, the quick loss of Sciver-Brunt threatened to derail the middle order, but a combined 69 runs from Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones kept the hopes of setting a competitive score alive.

However, the tail was unable to match Australia’s imposing bowling attack as England lost their last three wickets for just 12 runs.

Although England were able to claim the early scalp of Australian opener Phoebe Litchfield, a dominant performance from captain Healy put the visitors on the backfoot.

Healy found the boundary 11 times before being dismissed by Charlie Dean, but the damage was done as Gardner got her side across the line.

Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Filer claimed two wickets each for England, while Gardner also had three scalps for Australia to win the player-of-the-match award.

The second ODI takes place in Melbourne on Tuesday with England trailing by two points in the multi-format series.