Australia's total of 9-238 in the one-dayer at the County Ground in Taunton was described by England fast-bowler Katherine Brunt as being about 50 runs short of par. In response the home team, fuelled by a brisk 122-run partnership between Natalie Sciver and Lydia Greenway, passed the target with four wickets and 26 balls to spare to comfortably take the first two points on offer in the seven-match series.

The fact the Stars hit six more boundaries than England - 36 compared to 30 - after choosing to bat first yet boasted an inferior run-rate was a reflection of how they did not work hard enough to find gaps in the field beyond chasing boundaries on the rapid outfield.

Of the opening 10-over powerplay the Stars soaked up the equivalent of eight overs in dot balls, which new-ball bowler Brunt put down to a combination of their tight bowling and the Stars' mindset.

"We just offered nothing, so they had to start moving around and making something out of nothing, really," Brunt said.

"Maybe they'll look to move their feet, come out of the crease and maybe try and score runs that way in the next game, having just sat in the crease and waited for boundaries that weren't there today."

Perry, who top scored with 78 to lead the Stars' recovery from 3-35, agreed their sedate start with the bat - they were 3-69 after 20 overs - and their comparatively lax approach to rotating the strike were hindrances.

"It was actually quite easy to find the boundary, especially if the ball was pitched up, hitting straight through a shot it would race away down the ground.

"One of the crucial things we got stuck in after we lost early wickets was not rotating the strike. Again that's something England did really well in that middle period with Sciver and Greenway. There's a bit we can take out of it and a bit we can learn playing in these conditions."

Perry said the Stars were "at least 40 runs short". While England's partnership between Sciver and Greenway was only six more than what she and Alex Blackwell (58) managed earlier in the day the former came at a significantly better strike-rate.

Blackwell was one of three Stars batters to fall to direct hits from England's fielders, while Perry's pursuit of a maiden century was thwarted by a great outfield catch from Sciver.

Former England international Ebony Rainford-Brent argued the high standard of fielding was a result of the players having more time to devote to practising, due to them now being full-time professionals. Sciver added weight to that theory.

"Over the winter we've had a chance to work on our fielding a lot. I think that's a credit to us, to have had four run-outs. That's kind of what slowed them down in the end," she said.

Having last year matched and then broken the women's one-day record of three consecutive 50-plus scores Perry extended that streak to six with her innings.

While Brunt praised the all-rounder's form - she is averaging 131.25 in her past nine one-dayers - she agreed the Stars were becoming reliant on her runs from number four.

"Yeah. She'll feel it," Brunt said of Perry.

"She scored pretty much all their runs in this game and in the warm-up game the other day, even though [today] she was out on 7, 9 and 33.

"Having her running around for as long as she did is tiring. I can tell you as an all-rounder it's not good to have to open the bowling after you've batted [for a long innings like that]."

Perry downplayed the effect of losing opening batter Nicole Bolton to concussion, from a blow to the head in training the day before the match, which forced Jess Jonassen to bat at the top of the order in a one-dayer for the first time.

Veteran Brunt said she was rapt the team has successfully chased a big total despite Sarah Taylor and captain Charlotte Edwards, who are ranked as the world's top two one-day batters, contributing only 45 runs between them, and that Sciver and Greenway took over.

"Over the past 11 years there are people [in the team] you put a lot of weight on and at times you'd just sit back in your chair [when they fail] and go 'Oh, crap, that's it'. But over the past few years we've got so much talent now coming through . . . we bat all the way down to 10, 11," Brunt said.

The one-day series continues on Thursday in nearby Bristol.

Jesse Hogan is covering the women's Ashes with the support of Cricket Australia