Reece Topley described England's 137-run victory over Bangladesh in Dharmasala as a "step in the right direction", but admitted it was a relief to prove that the team's attacking approach is still a winning one, after the indignities of their nine-wicket defeat in the World Cup opener against New Zealand last week.
Topley did not feature in that crushing loss in Ahmedabad, in which Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra hunted down England's sub-par target of 283 with a massive 82 balls to spare. However, he was named for this game as an extra seamer in place of Moeen Ali, and duly starred with 4 for 43 in his ten overs, including a three-wicket new-ball burst that ensured that Dawid Malan's brilliant 140 from 107 balls would not go to waste.
"[The New Zealand game] didn't go quite as planned," Topley told Sky Sports. "So it's nice to play with a similar blueprint, but prove that it is the right way to go about things. It's a squad effort at the end of the day. Obviously everyone wants to play so, when you are left out, it's really about how you respond. You want to come in and make an impact, and to get those early wickets certainly settled some nerves for me."
The size of England's victory has gone a long way to atoning for their New Zealand thumping. The team's net run-rate is now up to 0.553, having been at -2 prior to this win, and Topley reiterated the importance of playing boldly in tournament cricket, so as to train the team to take the right option when the going gets tough at the sharp end of the campaign.
"Over the years, you've seen there is an implosion to be had with this side, but if you're going about it in the right way, and the way that you want to play, you can live and die by the sword," he said. "When you've got talented players in the changing-room - especially in tournament cricket - when it comes to those crunch games, it's a dangerous thing to come up against a side that plays in that manner.
"Knock-out cricket is more mental than it is [about] the talent on the pitch. If you're on the front foot before the opposition, I think you go in with an advantage straightaway. It's proved successful in the past, and long may it continue."
The Bangladesh victory was a notable occasion for Topley in more ways than one. At the age of 29, this was his maiden appearance in a 50-over World Cup, and the first time he has played in any ICC event since his short-lived role in England's run to the final of the World T20 in 2016, also in India.
After battling back from a career-threatening back injury, Topley missed England's victorious T20 World Cup campaign in Australia last winter after a freak ankle injury in training. And his hopes of featuring in this tournament took a dive earlier this year too, when he dislocated his shoulder while fielding on his IPL debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"I definitely feel that I've got unfinished business at World Cups," he said. "It's nice to be at one fully fit, but I'm sort of undercooked, so hopefully I'll peak at the right time. I haven't played a lot of cricket this summer, I've been wrapped up in cotton wool, so thanks everyone that I've made it here."
On this evidence, Topley has reaffirmed his place in England's plans for this tournament, and admitted that - right from the first time the team had practised out in the middle at Dharmasala - this venue was likely to suit his high-kicking left-arm seamers.
"I said it to Woody [Mark Wood], when we were bowling in the middle in training, it just swings more here. At certain grounds around the world, it just does more, the ball hits the ground and flies through.
"I saw the umpire picked a really nice ball, and because I was opening with Wiz [Chris Woakes], we wanted different ends. Normally there's another left-armer and we both want the same end. The wind was coming over my left shoulder, I had a really good ball … I thought today's going to be a good day for me. Sometimes you just get that feeling."
So it proved, with Topley striking twice in his first over, with Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto both fencing at outswingers to be caught at slip and gully respectively. He then followed that up with arguably the ball of the day, a wicked seaming delivery that jagged off a perfect length to trim the bails of Bangladesh's dangerman, Shakib Al Hasan.
"I fell away a bit," Topley joked. "It angled in a bit more than the others… but that's where you want it, you want to put it in the right area. But it's all about method. You just want to validate the way you go about things, and today was one of those days that just felt like you were ticking the right boxes."