But it wasn't long before England smothered that hope with Heather Knight's shadow.

The England captain produced her maiden international Twenty20 century to set up a 98-run win at Manuka Oval on Wednesday.

It was England's first win of the tournament, having lost their first game to South Africa.

That doesn't mean there weren't other glimmers of brilliance from Thailand, but none were brighter than when they had England in trouble at 2-7 after just 10 balls.

Amy Jones gone for a duck. Danni Wyatt for a golden.

Thailand batter Naruemol Chaiwai (15 not out from 22) admitted thoughts of glory were filling their minds.

"At that point we were pretty optimistic," she said.

"To get those wickets, they're pretty big wickets as well and thought that it could affect the game."

But that just brought Knight to the crease and she went about righting the royal ship.

She finished 108 not out from just 66 balls, guiding her side to 2-176, with Natalie Sciver backing her up with 59 (52 balls).

Their unbeaten 169-run partnership was the biggest for a women's T20 World Cup.

Knight has only passed 50 three times during her T20 international career, with all three of those coming at Manuka.

She scored 67 against India and 78 against Australia in the tri-series in the lead up to the World Cup.

Knight will get one more crack at Manuka this World Cup - against Pakistan on Friday - and she was already looking forward to it.

"I just really like [Manuka]. I think it suits my game quite well," she said.

"It's generally quite skiddy, comes on nicely and you get really good value for shots. I just seem to like it. I'd love to play here all the time.

"We've got another game here to hopefully cash in and put in another good performance in this World Cup."

But you couldn't wipe the smiles off the Thai faces, even though there'd been dropped catches, misfields and fielders tripping over boundary ropes backing back trying to catch sixes.

Their own innings started almost as badly as the Poms - Nattaya Boochatham out LBW to Anya Shrubsole for a golden duck of her own.

But Nattakan Chantam brought a few rays of sunshine back to Manuka with her innings - especially her driving through the offside.

She produced one of the shots of the day - charging Shrubsole before driving her gloriously on the up through point.

Chantam finished with 32 (53) to be Thailand's top scorer.

Sciver aksi chipped in with the ball for England, taking 2-5 from two overs, while Shrubsole finished with 3-21 from four.

AT A GLANCE

England 2-176 (Knight 108*, Sciver 59*, Boochatham 1-18) bt Thailand 7-78 (Chantam 32, Shrubsole 3-21, Sciver 2-5)