England opened their world championship campaign in style with an impressive 87-34 win against Barbados in Auckland. There were also victories for the reigning world champions and hosts New Zealand, who hammered Malawi 85-26 and another of the favourites, Australia, who beat Samoa 82-26.

Marg Caldow, the England head coach said:"That was a great way to start an intensive tournament like this. There are still a few things to be ironed out but it was good to be able to give all the squad court time and overall, I'm pleased how the game progressed."

Jo Harten, 18, won her first international cap and showed tremendous composure in the front line scoring 23 goals and combining well with the more experienced Pamela Cookey. Jo Binns was dominant in the centre court demonstrating her attacking and defensive skills to help England run up the highest total on the first full day of competition.

With several of their best players on the bench for the first half, England were untroubled in cruising to a 38-22 lead at the break.

Frontline players Karen Atkinson and shooter Louisa Brownfield were introduced in the second half along with Tamsin Greenway and defenders Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor as England continued to profit from an abundance of possession.

Vice-captain Atkinson said:"It was nice to get everyone on court and for some of the younger players to find their feet and get rid of a few nerves. It was a great scoreline, there's still a few things we need to improve on but overall it was a good start."

England's second game is against Malaysia, who lost heavily to South Africa in their opening match.

Wales also won their first group game, defeating newcomers Botswana 54-35 but Scotland went down 47-39 to Trinidad and Tobago in a closely fought contest.

Surprised by the unorthodox play of the African team, Wales struggled to overcome them with shooters Rebecca James (36 goals) and Amanda Evans, 18, seeing them home. The Welsh face a huge test in their next outing against New Zealand.

The Scots took on the "Calypso Girls" in front of a full house but trailed 27-22 at half time. The scoreline didn't really reflect how tough the match was and despite putting in a superb final quarter which they won 12-10, Scotland were edged out. They meet Samoa in their next pool match.

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