Heather Knight makes landmark century as England seal convincing Thailand victory

The England captain has made four scores above fifty in T20Is - all of which have come at Canberra's Manuka Oval

• Scorecard

Heather Knight became the first woman to hit international hundreds in all three formats as England belatedly recorded their first win of the T20 World Cup.

After going down in a thrilling game against South Africa in Perth on Sunday, Knight’s side put together an ultimately comprehensive display to see off tournament debutants Thailand.

Knight and Nat Sciver put on an unbroken stand worth 169 runs for the third wicket – the highest partnership in the history of the competition.

They came together earlier than they would have liked as Lisa Keightley’s outfit suffered a brief scare in the early embers of proceedings. Sornnarin Tippoch’s side, who have provided so much joy in their first ICC global event, had Amy Jones stumped off the second delivery of the match, before Danni Wyatt followed an over later, slicing to cover.

The impressive Nattaya Boochatham – the highest wicket-taker in world cricket in T20Is through 2019 – saw off Jones, while Soraya Lateh’s left-arm spin did for Wyatt.

That, however, was as good as it got for Thailand. Given the standards they had set themselves in their seven-wicket defeat against West Indies, they were decidedly ragged by comparison at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

Half-chances went down, while there were more misfields inside the first ten overs of England’s innings than in their entire display against Stafanie Taylor’s team.

^{Knight's century was her first in T20Is}

Knight and Sciver, though, took full advantage. Rather than adopting a gung-ho attitude, England were streetwise in their initial approach, rebuilding and ensuring that there were no further alarms in a game that they could ill-afford to lose.

Once the hundred came up and both players reached half centuries – Sciver’s second in two games and Knight’s third of the tour, the accelerator was located.

It became an innings dominated by the England captain. Knight has enjoyed a remarkable transformation in the T20I format; all four of her scores above fifty have come in Canberra, three of them since January.

For context, Knight has hit 104 fours and 21 sixes in T20Is. Of those, 31 fours and nine sixes have come in 2020 alone.

It took England to a total of 176 for 2 – a score that was always likely to be beyond Thailand, whose highest T20I score is 133 and came against Netherlands in August 2019.

In reply, the game trotted through the motions. Boochatham fell early, trapped in front by Anya Shrubsole, with the innings following its natural course. England bowled tightly, with Nattakan Chantam able to survive while struggling to penetrate the field.

Once she fell – lbw to Sophie Ecclestone, England began to take regular wickets. Nannapat Koncharoenkai was bowled by Sciver, who then had Chanida Sutthiruang caught at mid-on by Lauren Winfield, before Wongpaka Liengprasert was run out by Shrubsole's direct hit.

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