Plenty for Silverwood to enjoy after England's emphatic start

Chris Silverwood lauded England for starting their T20 World Cup campaign in a “ruthless” fashion – but recognises the pieces will not always fall into place as they did against the West Indies.

England gained a measure of revenge for losing the 2016 final to the same opponents with a disciplined bowling display backed up by flawless fielding as the Windies capitulated to 55 all out in 14.2 overs in a sultry Dubai.

It was the third lowest total in the tournament’s history and the worst by a Test-playing nation, with Adil Rashid's four wickets for two runs the best T20 analysis by an England bowler.

Moeen Ali collected 2-17, as did Tymal Mills on a heartwarming return to international cricket after an injuryplagued four-year absence.

England hurried to their total with six wickets and 11.4 overs to spare, giving their net run-rate a sizeable boost, and although head coach Silverwood was naturally delighted, he is pragmatic enough to stay level-headed.

Silverwood said: “It was good to watch that ruthless streak come out.

“We’ve had teams before 34-3, 40-3 in the powerplay and maybe not pushed as hard, but what I saw was that ruthless streak come out.

“That’s one everyone dreams of. I think we can certainly take confidence from it with how well we executed our skills, how well we caught.

“However, we’re aware it’s not always going to happen like that.

“We’ve got to be real and this is a message I’ll be passing on during training, which is that it's one win, that's brilliant, great to get the points in the bag and get net run-rate up, but it's a start, that's just what it is.

"We're heading into the next game now and we've got to assume it won't be as easy because the chances are it won't be.

“There's got to be an element of realism about it as well."

Rashid's figures were described as “very special” by England head coach Silverwood after he took the last four wickets, with fellow spinner Moeen setting the tone at the outset, bowling three overs in the powerplay having taken the new ball.