| First women's Twenty20 international, Chester-le-Street: |
| England 72-2 (9.2 overs) beat West Indies 71-8 (20 overs) by eight wickets |
| Match scorecard |
England's women cruised to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the first of five Twenty20 internationals.
Katherine Brunt took two wickets to help reduce West Indies to 7-3 and the visitors could only post 71-8 from their 20 overs at Chester-le-Street. Captain Charlotte Edwards hit an unbeaten 27 and Laura Marsh 31 to help England secure their win in the 10th over and with 62 balls to spare.
The second match of the series takes place at Old Trafford on Monday.
Marsh was named player of the match, having also taken 1-11 from her four overs.
Her 31 runs came off 28 balls, helping to propel England to a score of 59 by the time she was stumped off the bowling of Anisha Mohammed in the seventh over.
The 25-year-old Sussex player said: "It was great to start the series off like that.
"We're really pleased with our performance today, the opening bowlers bowled brilliantly and the spinners backed them up. We followed up well with the bat to get the job done.
"We're all looking forward to carrying this momentum forward to Old Trafford."
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