England Win on opening day of World Cup

England: 277/5 (SC Taylor 101, C Atkins 50, L Greenway 32*)

Sri Lanka: 177/7 (S de Alwis 37)

Claire Taylor showed why she is the number one batter in the world with a brilliant century as England defeated Sri Lanka by 100 runs at Canberra on the opening day of the ICC Women’s World Cup.

33-year-old Taylor scored her eighth ODI century as England posted an impressive 277-5 before restricting Sri Lanka to 177-7.

Remarkably it was her third consecutive World Cup hundred against Sri Lanka having scored 137 not out in 2000, her first ODI hundred, and 136 in 2005.

After being put into bat, Caroline Atkins and Sarah Taylor got England off to a solid start, putting on an opening stand of 80 before Taylor (38) fell to the Sri Lankan skipper Shashikala Siriwardena.

Atkins (50) then added 72 with Taylor, who looked in exceptional form, before she fell with the score on 152.

Taylor then received excellent support from England skipper Charlotte Edwards (27 off 27 balls) and Lydia Greenway (32 not out off 45 balls), before completing her century.

Shortly afterwards she was dismissed by Eshani Lokusooriya for 101, off only 95 balls, with 10 boundaries during her superb innings, as England closed on 277-5.

Sri Lanka’s opening pair of Dedunu de Silva and Chamari Polgampola started solidly in reply, putting on 48 for the first wicket, but a combination of poor running between the wickets and good bowling from England’s attack soon had it in trouble as it collapsed to 63-3

Suwini de Alwis (37) and Hiruka Fernando (26) both threatened to make big scores, but got out at crucial stages, and in the end Sri Lanka was left to bat out the overs.

22-year-old Laura Marsh was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-32, with left-arm spinner Holly Colvin also claiming one wicket.

Sri Lanka now faces Pakistan on Monday, while England takes on India at North Sydney Oval on Tuesday.