Any assessment of England’s start comes with the caveat of the strength of their opposition.
Having revamped their side over recent years, Sri Lanka looked well short of the team who beat England in a T20 series here three years ago.
Still, Sciver-Brunt and coach Charlotte Edwards could have wished for little more as they look to end a run of six winless World Cups across formats.
Jones has been pushed up to open after Sophia Dunkley’s loss of form and delivered at the first opportunity, albeit with the benefit of the two drops – first by Imesha Dulani at fine leg and then a caught and bowled miss by Sugandika Kumari.
Much can also be taken by the knock from Sciver-Brunt, who in her first official match since six weeks out with a calf injury, arguably struck the ball better than Wyatt-Hodge. A scoop and a drive over long-on were two stand-out shots.
Lauren Bell pinned Vishmi Gunaratne lbw in the third over and when Athapaththu’s top-edged sweep was caught by Wyatt-Hodge running back from square leg the game was effectively done.
Wyatt-Hodge did drop two other tough chances later on but left-armer Kemp, only recently returning to bowling after a series of back issues, took three in four balls to improve a day even further.
This was an ideal start for England and organisers alike – a crowd of 14,865 departing thoroughly entertained.
