CANBERRA: Heather Knight's first century in the shortest format helped England defeat Thailand by 98 runs in the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup on Wednesday here at the Manuka Oval.
Chasing 177, Thailand lost its first wicket in the first over of the innings as Nattaya Boochatham (0) was sent back to the pavilion by Anya Shrubsole.
Nannapat Koncharoenkai and Nattakan Chantam then retrieved the innings for Thailand as the duo put on 47 runs for the second wicket. England finally got the breakthrough of Chantam (32) in the 13th over as Sophie Ecclestone sent her back to the pavilion.
After Chantam's dismissal, the side lost the wicket of Koncharoenkai (12), reducing Thailand to 50/3 in 14th over.
In the end, Thailand lost wickets at regular intervals and ended up losing the match by 98 runs after being restricted to just 78 runs.
Earlier, Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver played knocks of 108 and 59, respectively, as England posted 176/2 in the allotted twenty overs.
Opting to bowl first, Thailand got off to a brilliant start as openers Amy Jones (0) and Danni Wyatt (0) were sent back to the pavilion with just seven runs on the board.
However, Knight and Sciver then joined each other in the middle to retrieve the innings for England. After spending some time in the middle, both batters increased the pace of their innings.
The duo stitched together an unbeaten stand of 169 runs to take England's total past the 175-run mark.
Brief Scores: England 176/2 (Heather Knight 108*, Natalie Sciver 59*, Nattaya Boochatham 1-18) defeat Thailand 78/7 (Nattakan Chantam 32, Naruemol Chaiwai 19*, Anya Shrubsole 3-21) by 98 runs.