Early World Cup statements by Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica have been overshadowed by England's winning determination amid the death of coach Tracey Neville's father.
The world's No.3 team claimed their opening match in the most difficult of circumstances in Sydney on Friday, scoring an emphatic 60-19 victory over Barbados at Allphones Arena.
They did so under the guidance of an emotional Neville, who left the bedside of her critically ill father, Neville Neville, to fulfil her coaching duties.
The 65-year-old died later on Friday evening after suffering a heart attack on arrival in Australia to watch his daughter, a former England star herself, take the helm for her first world titles.
Tracey left the venue straight after proceedings for St Vincent's Hospital where the former league cricketer and football agent was being cared for.
It's understood her English soccer star brothers Gary and Phil Neville are also in Sydney, having flown in from the UK after hearing the news.
England Netball have confirmed 38-year-old Tracey will continue as coach for the duration of the world titles.
Captain Geva Mentor said the team were handling themselves well given the situation.
"We've dealt with a lot of outside distractions before, this isn't the first tournament that we've come into (with distractions)," Mentor said.
"But I think the main focus is on ourselves. The support staff have definitely made sure that's been the case and we've really risen up to that."
Eleventh-ranked Scotland were spirited and made England work for their goals but ultimately couldn't stem the flow.
The match marked an impressive milestone for returning veteran defender Sonia Mkoloma, who became the first of three players set to equal the all-time international record of playing in five consecutive world titles.
England will face world No.4 Jamaica in their second match on Saturday, which will likely decide the winner of Pool B.
Jamaica made a statement as the tournament's dark horse via a 90-44 thumping of Samoa.
Towering shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid scored a game-high 39 goals for the Sunshine Girls after coming on in the third quarter for Queensland Firebirds star Romelda Aiken (29 goals).
Australia launched their title defence with a comfortable 73-32 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, initially struggling with the Calypso Girls' physicality but settling into a rhythm as coach Lisa Alexander tested out myriad combinations.
The Silver Ferns also won convincingly, battering Barbados 73-28, though the Kiwis remain untested under any sort of pressure as they draw closer to Sunday's crunch Pool A clash with the top-ranked Diamonds.
World No.6 Malawi ground out a harder-fought 58-51 triumph over a rallying Norma Plummer-coached South Africa in Pool C, while Singapore saw off Sri Lanka 56-43.
In Pool D, Wales defeated Fiji 59-52 in the first match of the tournament before Uganda cruised past Zambia 74-38.
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