By Dominic Farrell
England captain Charlotte Edwards was delighted by the manner in which her bowlers bounced back from a difficult opening match against West Indies to help see off India by five wickets in the Women’s World Twenty20.
Edwards’ attack toiled for long periods as the Windies compiled an opening stand of 87 en route to 133 for seven - a total England would fall nine runs shy of.
That left the team with little margin for error today and opening bowler Anya Shrubsole led from the front with magnificent figures of 3-6 from her four overs.
Jenny Gunn stood alongside her fellow seamer in the wickets column, while the slow bowlers denied India any real momentum and were backed up by a stellar fielding display.
“The way the they bounced back today, led by Anya, every bowler executed their skills, which is pleasing,” said Edwards, after England chased down India’s 95 for nine with 11 balls to spare.
“All-round, with the fielding as well - there were some exceptional catches - so I’m really pleased.”
No England batter could match the exploits of Edwards’ counterpart Mithali Raj, who stuck a superb 57 to amass the bulk of her team’s runs.
But Edwards was unconcerned by the loss of regular wickets during the reply, insisting her side had an eye on the bigger picture in the round-robin stage.
“We were going for some net run-rate, just trying to get the runs as quickly as we can, so I’m not worried at all about that,” she explained.
“To be perfectly honest, the win was the most important thing and there was an opportunity towards the end to get our net run-rate up as well.”
One of two players - along with Tammy Beaumont - to hole out to mid-on, Edwards accepted such dismissals come with the territory playing at the top of the order in the shortest format.
“That’s my game and, opening the batting in T20 cricket, you’ve got to take some low scores at times,” she said.
‘We were trying to get the runs as quickly as we possibly could and you’re going to make some mistakes sometimes.
“I don’t let it affect my confidence. I come out there in the next game and keep trying to show the same intent.
“I’m really happy with my form. I’ve been playing well in T20 cricket over the last year so hopefully that will continue throughout this tournament.”
Next up England take on hosts Bangladesh on Friday in a game they will be heavy favourites to win. But Edwards is taking nothing for granted.
She added: “It’s a World Cup and we’ll be playing it to win. I’m not under-estimating anyone; we’ve been bitten a couple of times.
“They’ve played well today, to bowl West Indies out for 115, and we’ll be preparing like we’re playing Australia.
“We’ve never played against Bangladesh; it is a little bit of the unknown but we’ll be looking forward to Friday.”
A large crowd is expected on Friday, albeit attendances have already been healthy for the women’s competition.
Shrubsole, who bowled 18 dot balls in her allocation, said: "It was brilliant, especially when we started fielding, to have such a good crowd in.
"It's the sort of crowds that we want to play in front of, so that was absolutely brilliant and hopefully that also continued through the tournament.
"There's a little bit of nerves, I'll admit, but it's mostly just excitement. This is why we play international cricket - to play at grounds like this, in front of crowds like this, in tournaments like this."