How Smith inspired England's statement win

England needed to make a statement in their World Cup opener against South Africa - and they delivered it tenfold.

Criticism swirled round the team after their group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup this time last year and the 16-0 Ashes thrashing in January.

In fact, ever since that 2024 winter of discontent, news conferences, articles and the narrative of pretty much every game they have played has been dominated by what had gone so badly wrong before.

Subsequent series wins over West Indies counted for little because of the standard, while defeats by India reopened the cracks.

Their script needed rewriting - and yes, there is a long way to go from winning their first game of the tournament - but the emphatic nature of this 10-wicket win against South Africa was exactly what was needed.

"There's been a lot of talk around this England side after the Ashes, and they've obviously moved on from that," said World Cup winner Alex Hartley on BBC Test Match Special.

"Don't get me wrong, they'll have learned so many lessons from Australia – but things couldn't have gone any better for them here to start to rewrite everything that has been said about them."

Every aspect of England's set-up had been questioned - from the batters to the bowlers, to their fitness levels and fielding standards.

Even their selection for this tournament lent itself to scrutiny, and the fact that most of the players were part of the Ashes squad, but new captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and coach Charlotte Edwards were insistent things would be different.

It did not materialise against India at home, and on balance that was to be expected considering the little time Edwards had to implement her ways, but 24 hours out from this game, Sciver-Brunt gave a brave but confident answer that this side was "chalk and cheese" from the versions which stepped out previously.

Chalk and cheese it was, and while it would be crackers to get carried away knowing a long tournament is ahead of England, the signs are promising.

Sciver-Brunt's demeanour around the press is relaxed but with a steely edge while Edwards has a quiet determination. This ruthless dismantling of South Africa was rooted in such qualities.

'A huge asset for England' - Smith makes her mark

The win in Guwahati was set up by left-arm spinner Linsey Smith, who only made her ODI debut against West Indies this year after a couple of stints in and out of the T20 set-up.

An immediate impact saw opposing captain Laura Wolvaardt caught and bowled in the second over before Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp were bowled by beautiful drifting deliveries - making Smith the first player to remove the powerful top three in the format.

The 30-year-old found 2.2 degrees of drift on average, the most of any match in her England career, and was metronomic in her pursuit of targeting the stumps - which was also the case for the bowlers generally. They bowled 38 balls which would have gone on to hit the stumps, took six wickets with them and conceded just four runs.

When discussing what made Smith so unique and successful, fellow slow left-armer Hartley said: "She's an in-swing bowler, really. She can spin it and she will spin a few, but in her action, she's got a really low arm so the trajectory of the ball is constantly following you as a right-hander.

"You see her start wider, and the ball swings into the pads. We saw a couple of occasions with the South Africa batters prodding forward and the ball going between the bat and pad so with somebody like Smith, the inside edge is the threat rather than the outside.

"She gets way more drift and movement through the air than most other spinners, it is the dream as a left-arm spinner. She is an incredibly tough bowler to face because you don't have many options - you can't sweep her either, because she's skiddy and that will challenge the lbw."

South Africa could have presented England with a difficult opener, one in which they could not really afford to slip up.

But now, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to come, they are in a fantastic position to head into their games against favourites India and Australia unbeaten.

"Nothing went wrong for England today, everything was in their favour, but one thing that everyone needs to do is stay grounded and not get too ahead of ourselves about where they're at," Hartley added.

"It's very easy to say, 'oh they'll go on and win the World Cup if they keep playing like that' but the reality is, not every game will be like that. Yes, enjoy the moment and enjoy the game and the day, because you don't have many days like that, but the back-end of the tournament is very tough for them."