Australia and England made emphatic statements with convincing wins in a double-header at Boland Park in Paarl on the second day of the Women's T20 World Cup Saturday.
Defending champions Australia crushed New Zealand by 97 runs, while England made light of a challenging target as they raced to a seven-wicket win over the West Indies with 5.3 overs to spare.
England's bowling and fielding was some way below perfection in 38-degree heat as the West Indies scored 135 for seven.
But their batters attacked the West Indian bowlers with a formidable display of power and aggression.
Opener Sophia Dunkley pounded 34 off 18 balls before Nat Sciver-Brunt (40 not out) and skipper Heather Knight (32 not out) completed the win with an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 67 off 43 balls.
"That's exactly what we want to do," said Knight.
"We want to be fearless and take the game on – and entertain as well. We want to try to go hard up front and today was a big step to do that in a big tournament."
It was measure of England's superiority that the West Indies fast bowler Chinelle Henry felt that her team had shown enough improvement on recent performances to feel confident going into their next match against India in Cape Town Wednesday.
"If we play our game against India the way we did today we definitely can beat them," said Henry.