In the opening ODI in Harare, Australia defeated Zimbabwe by 59 runs thanks to a first-ever five-wicket haul by Nathan Ellis and Matt Renshaw's maiden ODI century. Renshaw helped Australia recover from a precarious position to eventually post a formidable total on the board before Ellis struck at different stages of the run chase to subdue Zimbabwe despite a fighting partnership between veterans Sikandar Raza and Craig Ervine. Zimbabwe made a disastrous start in pursuit of 295 when Ben Curran chipped one tamely to mid off and departed for a duck. Brian Bennett gave his side some hope with some early boundaries, including a six off Spencer Johnson, but Ellis quickly put Australia in control with a double strike in his opening over. Ellis' characteristically sluggish delivery first foxed innocent Kaia before Bennett slipped behind. While Ervine made a positive start to his innings, Brendan Taylor didn't last long as he lofted one straight to long-on to gift his wicket to Renshaw. Raza and Ervine then joined forces to stem the rot with the latter in particular looking in sublime touch. At the halfway point, the excellent partnership between the batters brought the chase back to life. In the process, for the first time in ODI history, two batters over 40 scored half-centuries. But once again, Ellis proved to be the thorn in the flesh for Zimbabwe as he returned to the attack to break the crucial stand. To make matters worse, Spencer Johnson castled an injured Raza a few overs later, effectively ending Zimbabwe's hopes. The lower half of the home team did their best to drag the chase into the final overs, but Ellis came back for his final spell and added two more runs to his total, giving him a five-fer. Earlier in the day, Australia put up a strong total on the board despite losing their top four inside 18 overs. Opting to bat, the world champions lost an early wicket when Travis Head chopped one on to his stumps in just the second over. But Mitchell Marsh and Cooper Connolly turned the tide pretty quick with a flurry of boundaries. Marsh was the aggressor as he hammered successive short deliveries for a four and a six off Blessing Muzarabani. Newman Nyamburi struck in his first over to dismiss the Australian captain, and it was the bowling change that stopped Marsh's rampage. A small demise was brought on by that dismissal. Nyamhuri struck again when Josh Inglis edged one behind and Raza got the big wicket of Connolly who had just gone past fifty with a six after surviving two chances in two overs. Renshaw joined Carey out in the middle at that point, and Australia needed to be rebuilt. Carey was content to play out deliveries with less than 18 overs left to bat in order to extend the innings. Once the partnership grew in confidence, Renshaw took on Bennett to smash a six over deep midwicket before following it up with another big one off Wellington Mazakadza in the very next over. Just when the partnership was brewing, Brad Evans came back into the attack to provide relief to the home side with Carey's wicket. That didn't deter Renshaw who hammered another six to bring up his fifty before forging another useful stand, this time with Peake. As Australia began to score boundaries, the two batters switched gears, and Peake was sent to the pavilion when he touched the stumps by a hit-wicket. Renshaw eventually brought up his maiden ton in the format before becoming Nyamhuri's fifth and final victim.