England batsman Andrew Strauss has been passed fit for Friday's one-day game against Australia in Melbourne.
England's Ashes tour took another turn for the worse when they were crushed in the opening one-dayer by Australia and Kevin Pietersen suffered a rib injury.
Strauss was hit on the head by a ball from Brett Lee during the final Test of the Ashes series and missed Tuesday's Twenty20 loss with a stiff neck.
Pietersen hit three sixes in his 82, Paul Collingwood made 43 and Andrew Flintoff 47 not out in England's 242-8.
"Turning around was a little bit awkward, but I am now fully looking forward to getting stuck in," he said.
It never looked adequate once Adam Gilchrist blasted 60 and put on 101 with Matthew Hayden (28) in 93 balls.
Strauss will not have to contend with fast bowler Lee at the MCG as he is still suffering from bronchitis.
Ricky Ponting (82no) and Michael Clarke (57no) then took over to seal victory by eight wickets with 4.4 overs left.
onClick="javascript:launchAVConsoleStory('6251087'); return false;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/video_and_audio/help_guide/4304501.stm">Interview: England batsman Andrew Strauss
Australia have, however, picked exciting left-armer Mitchell Johnson after he recovered from a stomach muscle strain and have Ashes stars Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark in their starting line-up.
It was another chastening experience for the beleagured tourists after their Test whitewash and humbling in Tuesday's Twenty20 game.
England are expected to hand one-day international debuts to veteran wicket-keeper Paul Nixon and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar for the triangular tournament's opener.
Captain Michael Vaughan provided some early cheer in his first one-day international in 18 months with some beautiful backfoot drives.
Nixon and Panesar gave encouraging performances in the Twenty20 match.
But, as so often has been the case on this tour, England were soon subdued by some tight bowling and sharp fielding.
Strauss said his team's poor one-day form recently, with just seven wins in their last 27 games, could actually work in their favour as they look to upset the host nation and the Kiwis.
Andrew Strauss and Vaughan edged Nathan Bracken (3-46) to Hayden at first slip, while Ian Bell was dropped first ball by Gilchrist before lofting Mitchell Johnson (2-34) to mid-off.
Johnson proved his fitness in a net session on Thursday
Skipper Vaughan had an unhappy return to ODI cricket
"We're going in there with a sense that we haven't got much to lose," he said.
Collingwood could have been run out by yards by Hayden and Ponting, and took 46 balls to score his first boundary as England plodded to 100 at the end of the 24th over.
"We can play the sort of cricket we know we are capable of and maybe surprise a few people."
Pietersen finally launched an assault to blast three huge sixes off leg-spinner Cameron White.
Strauss' return will probably put his Middlesex colleague Ed Joyce out of the starting side.
But his progress was checked when a short ball from Glenn McGrath thudded into his right ribs, and he and Collingwood holed out in the deep to spark another clatter of wickets.
For Australia, McGrath is likely to share the new ball with the one-day specialist Nathan Bracken, another left-armer.
The visitors were in danger of falling well short of a par-total on a good pitch until Flintoff chanced his arms with an entertaining 38-ball cameo.
The retirement of Damien Martyn, meanwhile, will offer Michael Clarke the chance to move up the order with one-day cricket's official best batsman Michael Hussey remaining at six.
The big all-rounder had a nightmare with the ball, however: 48 runs were leaked in his six overs, including a mammoth six over long-on from Gilchrist and a staggering 11 wides in his first over.
"Michael Clarke is going to bat at four with Andrew Symonds at five and Michael Hussey at six," said captain Ricky Ponting.
Flintoff and his fellow seamers proved fodder for the irresistible Gilchrist, who ruthlessly dispatched anything wide or over-pitched - and there was plenty of it - to all parts.
"Huss has been incredible down the order in one-day cricket and for the last five or six years of his career has batted in that position.
Vaughan cut an exasperated figure as the 100 came up in the 15th over but the introduction of spinners Jamie Dalrymple and Monty Panesar paid almost instant dividends.
Watson, being the sort of player he is, will be able to fit into our line-up pretty much anywhere down the order Ricky Ponting
Gilchrist edged behind trying to cut and Hayden was stumped after charging down the track to Panesar.
"Michael Clarke has got a chance up the order. He has been a bit starved of that over the last couple of years, has been dying to go up, so his chance has come now."
But Ponting crushed any hopes of a revival with a series of elegant and powerful drives.
Ponting said all-rounder Shane Watson remained part of the team's plans for the World Cup in March despite having missed most of the season with a hamstring problem.
He received able support from youngster Clarke and, with the boundaries coming at will, victory was achieved in a hurry to the delight of most of the crowd of more than 78,000 at the MCG.
The injury put Watson out of the Ashes series and he has been told he must play two four-day games for state side Queensland before he will be considered for the national team.
It was England's eighth defeat in 11 matches in Australia and, with their best batsman ruled out of the rest of the series, qualification for the finals of this competition seems a long way off.
"Watson, being the sort of player he is, will be able to fit into our line-up pretty much anywhere down the order. I see him as being a really crucial player for us," said Ponting.
"I think it's a day-by-day assessment with him really, just to see how he's going and how much bowling he can get done.
"We'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope it's sooner rather than later for him."
Australia: R Ponting (capt), A Gilchrist, M Hayden, M Clarke, A Symonds, M Hussey, C White, N Bracken, S Clark, M Johnson, G McGrath.
England (from): M Vaughan (capt), A Strauss, E Joyce, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, P Collingwood, J Dalrymple, P Nixon, J Anderson, J Lewis, M Panesar, C Tremlett, S Mahmood, L Plunkett, C Read.
