DANIELLE HAZELL has outlined her immense pride after her first game as England captain resulted in the women’s team securing a One-Day International series win in Sri Lanka.

Durham-born Hazell stood in as skipper after Heather Knight was ruled out with an ankle injury, and guided England to a five-wicket win in Colombo.

The 28-year-old all-rounder played a key role with the ball, taking two wickets with her off-spin and claiming a run out as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 161.

England’s reply owed much to an accomplished 78 from Tammy Beaumont, and the tourists eventually reached their victory target with more than 20 overs remaining.

“It was quite a surreal morning going out to do the toss and stuff like that,” said Hazell, who made her England debut in 2009 and boasts 117 international appearances in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s. “But I really enjoyed it, and I think the girls put in a good performance for me and made my job really easy.

“I hope they (her team-mates) are going to say I’m quite calm as a captain. I felt like I was pretty calm in terms of trying to keep things under control.

“The girls made it ridiculously easy though. Everybody knows how we roll, and what our game plan is out there, and they made the game particularly easy.”

Hazell barely featured during England’s recent series against the West Indies, but she remains an integral part of the international set-up, as evidenced by her elevation to the captaincy.

“It shows how strong our squad is,” she said. “You have to be attuned to the situation, because all of a sudden you’re in and you’re captaining England. It’s a real honour, and I think that it just shows the strength of women’s cricket in England at the minute.”

The victory handed England an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-game series, but while qualification for the World Cup has already been guaranteed, Hazell is determined to complete a whitewash when the final match of the series takes place later today.

“We definitely want to finish 4-0,” she said. “We’re hoping Heather is going to be fit to be able to get back out there to lead the side, but whoever goes out there, we’re looking to finish this series 4-0 and looking to finish our year on a real high.”