A 161-run opening partnership set England on their way to a mammoth 281-run win over Papua New Guinea in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis.

Ahead of an opening clash with defending champions Bangladesh, England made the most of being put into bat as George Thomas (90) and Jacob Bethell (78) built the perfect platform.

Neither man could make it to three figures, but once they had departed, skipper Tom Prest took up the charge on his way to a 77-ball 91.

Like Thomas and Bethell, he fell short of a century but a quickfire 46 not out from James Sales carried England all the way to 359 for seven in their 50 overs.

That was always going to be out of reach for PNG, with Sales building on his batting with three early wickets on his way to three for 14.

Fateh Singh then picked up two for two including top-scorer Christopher Kilapat for 19 and PNG were eventually bowled out for 78 in 27.4 overs.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers produced a remarkable display to bowl out Uganda for just 46 with Dunith Wellalage, the captain at the 2022 ICC U19 Men’s CWC, the pick of the bunch in Guyana.

Wellalage finished with figures of four for none from his three overs as he raced through the Ugandan middle and lower order in a 231-run success.

The game had not started well for Sri Lanka, opener Chamindu Wickramasinghe bowled second ball by Pascal Murungi for a duck.

A 96-run partnership between Shevon Daniel (46) and Sadisha Rajapaksa (75 retired not out) got the innings back on track, while Yasiru Rodrigo’s unbeaten 32 helped Sri Lanka to 277 for eight from their 50 overs.

Rodrigo (2-6) and Wickramasinghe (2-5) then tore through the top order, reducing Uganda to ten for four in reply.

The wickets kept coming as Wellalage came on, and despite a final wicket partnership of 17, Uganda’s innings ended after 21.2 overs.

Five wickets from Nathan McGuire fired Ireland to a seven-wicket victory over Scotland in Georgetown.

The off-spinner helped reduce Scotland to 138 all out with his 5-33, removing top-scoring duo Tomas Mackintosh (26) and Muhaymen Majeed (24) in the space of three balls.

Muzamil Sherzad chipped in with two for 17 as Scotland struggled after electing to bat.

In reply, an unbeaten half-century from opener David Vincent (51 not out) made it a comfortable chase, despite Oliver Davidson’s three for 27.

Ireland will look to build on the performance in their opening Group B match against Uganda, while Scotland kick off against Sri Lanka in Group D.