England 'chalk and cheese' from Ashes - Sciver-Brunt

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt says that her team are "chalk and cheese" compared to how they felt after the Ashes defeat at the beginning of the year.

Sciver-Brunt took over as captain after the 16-0 thrashing at the hands of Australia, which saw Heather Knight removed from her position alongside coach Jon Lewis, who was replaced by Charlotte Edwards.

The all-rounder now prepares to lead England in a World Cup for the first time, with their opening game against South Africa in Guwahati on Friday.

"Everyone feels really relaxed and feels pretty confident in what we've done in terms of the preparation," Sciver-Brunt told BBC Sport.

"We are just in a better place coming from about eight, nine months ago in Australia when we were feeling pretty low as a side. I think from that we're pretty much chalk and cheese."

The difficult winter also saw England knocked out of the T20 World Cup in the group stages last autumn, and led to scrutiny surrounding the team's fitness, attitude and ability to perform in high-pressure situations.

In their home summer, Sciver-Brunt oversaw a clean sweep in both white-ball formats against West Indies in her first series in charge but they were subsequently beaten in both series against a far superior India, who are hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka.

But Sciver-Brunt added that things had improved "both on and off the field" as England begin their quest for a first trophy since the famous World Cup win over India at Lord's in 2017.

"We felt like we couldn't do anything right out in Australia and we obviously felt hugely negative about our whole experience there.

"Cricket-wise, we just didn't put out the performances that we wanted to and that we would have been proud of.

"We have been reflecting on that, trying to draw a line in the sand and bringing in different things on and off the pitch. It has been a really good catalyst for us to be in the place that we are now.

"We're quietly confident about our abilities and confident in the way that we want to go about things."

The World Cup opener saw India comfortably beat Sri Lanka at the same venue, where the pitch offered more assistance to the spinners and there was also a challenge for players to cope with high heat and humidity.

England have included four frontline spinners in Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn and Linsey Smith in their squad, with Alice Capsey as a part-time option. Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer and Em Arlott are the quicks.

Sciver-Brunt also confirmed that she is fully fit to bowl after recovering from an Achilles problem, meaning she has not bowled competitively since the Ashes.

"I'm excited to be able to play a full part as an all-rounder again, to be honest.

"That's how I always want to play, to try and take things on in all three departments, so that'll be adding another string to my bow."

England beat New Zealand in two unofficial warm-ups before the tournament, and then beat favourites India and Australia in their others.

Defending champions Australia also started their campaign with a win, beating New Zealand by 89 runs in Indore on Wednesday.