England opened their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign with a 21-run victory over Bangladesh in Sharjah, despite an unconvincing batting performance.

The low-scoring trend of the tournament continued as Heather Knight’s side successfully defended their 118-7, with Bangladesh crawling to 97-7 in response.

Spin dominated again on a slow, sluggish pitch as Linsey Smith and Charlie Dean took two wickets each.

England’s batters also struggled on the surface, with opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge top-scoring with 41 but they were generally wasteful against Bangladesh’s slow, wily bowlers.

Though conditions were in the bowlers’ favour, England threw several wickets away by committing to an aggressive approach throughout.

Opener Maia Bouchier was caught at mid-off for 23, Nat Sciver-Brunt was lbw walking down the pitch for two, Alice Capsey was caught reverse-sweeping for nine and Wyatt-Hodge was stumped trying to hit down the ground.

Five of the wickets fell to spin with two to Ritu Moni’s medium pace, and while it was not their finest innings, it did not prove too costly as England’s own spinners produced an exceptionally disciplined display to bamboozle a poor Bangladesh batting line-up.

Sobhana Mostary batted brilliantly for her 44, but had little support from elsewhere as they failed to keep up with the run-rate at any stage in the face of England’s consistency.

Heather Knight’s England are back in action against South Africa, who also won their first match, on Monday while Bangladesh face West Indies on Thursday.