All-round England: Dunkley, Kemp, Gibson star in third straight victory

England 200/5 beat Scotland 162/6 by 38 runs at Headingley Impact: England go 3-0 in Group B, first team to post 200+ twice in a single T20 World Cup.

Context: Came in for injured captain Nat Sciver-Brunt after missing first 2 games Knock: 57 off 37, 9 fours. Dropped 3 times by Scotland. Powerplay: Lit it up after Amy Jones fell 1st ball. England 51/1 in 6 overs – Dunkley 43 off 25, Wyatt-Hodge just 7.

Kirstie Gordon, the former England left-arm spinner who switched allegiances back to Scotland ahead of this World Cup, started well with a wicket first ball on her way to 2 for 30. But her side were far less assured in the field than they had been in their spirited seven-run defeat to West Indies earlier in the week with a spate of errors costing them.

Facing a huge task, Scotland started their pursuit brightly enough, matching England in the powerplay but two wickets in nine balls to Sophie Ecclestone put her side on the right path.

Bottom line: After losing Amy Jones first ball, Sophia Dunkley’s 57 set the platform. Then Kemp and Gibson’s 61-run blitz in 21 balls took England to 200/5. Scotland couldn’t keep up, handing England their third straight win and a perfect group stage start.

Dunkley had been overlooked for the first two matches of the tournament after a lean summer in which she made just 98 runs across six T20I innings against New Zealand and India with a top score of 26. But her early reprieve seemed to ignite something as she struck three fours in four balls off the next over, from Gabriella Fontenla and another off Kathryn Bryce.

By the end of the powerplay, Dunkley was unbeaten on 47 off 25 balls and England were 51 for 1. She continued to rider her luck as a rash of fielding errors spread through the Scotland camp. She brought up her half-century off 33 balls cutting a wide one from Chatterji through point. Dunkley's innings came to an end shuffling across her stumps to slog-sweep Kathryn Bryce but picking out Hannah Rainey on the boundary at deep backward square.

Gibson and Kemp combined again to remove McColl, picking out the latter just inside the deep square leg boundary. Then Sarah Bryce produced a promising 34 off 24 highlighted by an ice-cool back-cut over point for six off Lauren Bell. But when she holed out to Gibson at deep midwicket off Smith, it ended up being Scotland's highest score. Pippa Sproul, who came into the line-up for Ailsa Lister, was run out off the last ball of the match.