NICK HOWSON: Interest in the opening match of the tour is scant and given the chasm in quality, who can blame those who stayed away?
In many ways, these were the ideal surroundings for the England 3.0 era to start.
Away from baying eyes in Kuala Lumpur, the team can build ahead of steam before next year's T20 World Cup, when the focus will inevitably turn their way again.
New head coach Lisa Keightley, the replacement for Mark Robinson, does not take permanent charge until January, though she will arrive in Malaysia in the coming days after the conclusion of the Women's Big Bash.
Alastair Maiden is effectively at the helm for this one-day international and T20 series, and that spell began with a victory which at no stage looked in doubt.
Pakistan are no barometer of the tests which are to come over the next few months - they are not even assured of being at the next 50-over World Cup - but it offers an opportunity for new faces to bed in.
After Sarah Glenn was handed her international debut, Freya Davies and Mady Villiers remain the uncapped players at ODI level in the squad. They will surely be given a chance to add to their experience on this tour.
It highlights how we cannot expect an overnight overhaul of this team. Fitting then, that these matches are playing in the early hours UK time.
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Let's not kid ourselves into thinking this series is anything other than a side-note on the international cricket calendar. It is third v seventh in the ODI world rankings, at a neutral venue, two months before a World Cup in a different format. It might be England's final engagement in qualification for the 2021 50-over tournament, but there was a feeling of everyone is going through the motions.
And the promotion of the series has been similarly uninspired. Previews of the clashes were few and far between - bar The Cricketer's own interview with England newly Sarah Glenn - and information regarding how to watch and follow it was limited in the national media.
Unless you'd religiously followed the ICC's Women Championship, then you would have been forgiven for missing it completely. Social media promotion was restricted to the odd mention on many major cricket outlets and, while there was plenty of match coverage on the ECB's and England team's various accounts, a link to the official feed was hard to find. Pakistan were hardly pushing it at every juncture either, though the PCB did at least dig into their coffers to provide an eight-camera set-up.
As a result, it was hardly a surprise to see online viewing numbers only occasionally peak above 3,000. It was just reward for what has been a build-up which betrays the growth of the sport, and the work put in by the ECB to do just that.
England's players stand to salute Danni Wyatt as she goes to her maiden ODI century. 👏pic.twitter.com/b1RplcB5HO
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Eight of England's squad have jetted into Malaysia directly from Australia's Big Bash, alongside Pakistan's Nida Dar, accounting for nearly a third of the players available for the opening ODI.
These are the final round of games before both sides head Down Under to prepare for the T20 World Cup starting in February.
This series, therefore, is an unnecessary speed hump ahead of next year. No sooner have players achieved a groove and adapted to alien conditions do they have to find a new way of playing.
Dar in particular, the first Pakistani women to be allowed to play in the WBBL, was using the spell as a fact-finding mission for the team, many of whom have never played cricket in Australia. Plenty of England's players have, but even they will be frustrated by the schedule.
Only cricket would pigeonhole a run of matches unnecessarily into the calendar, squeezing every sinew out of all available gaps. A series which goes towards qualification for a tournament which isn't staged for another two years could have waited.
The Kinrara Oval was near-deserted during play
Even if Pakistan, as is expected, are whitewashed in this ODI series then their World Cup fate is far from assured.
In the eight-team group, the top four are assured of a place in the next 50-over showcase in 2021.
Australia and reigning champions England have already secured their passage, with New Zealand having qualified as hosts.
Three sides are fighting over the two remaining automatic places, with five points separating them. India and South Africa occupy third and fourth on 20 and 16 points respectively, ahead of Pakistan on 15.
Assuming the Kiwis finish outside of the top four, the remaining three sides will drop into the World Cup qualifier, scheduled for next year. West Indies and Sri Lanka are already confirmed for that tournament.
Bangladesh, Ireland plus five regional qualifiers will also scrap it out for the three remaining places in the tournament proper.
The uncertainty over Pakistan's future surrounds the unplayed group matches against India.
The BBCI refused to engage in discussions over the staging of a three-match series, which was due to take place between July and October of this year. They acted similarly during the last ICC Women's Championship, which eventually led to Pakistan being awarded full points without a ball being bowled.
If the same were to transpire again then Pakistan would have six points added to their total and their place in next year's World Cup would be confirmed. It could yet hurt South Africa, who will risk still being behind India if they do not whitewash New Zealand when the two sides face-off next month.
Either way, the uncertainty helps no-one.
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Any achievements on such a dead pitch should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it was still a landmark day for England with the bat.
Danni Wyatt went to her first ODI century and highest score in the format after registering 110 from 95 balls.
Tammy Beaumont joined her on three figures for the seventh time in ODIs for her country, eventually finishing on 107 from 141 deliveries. She is the second-fastest women to seven centuries (62 matches) behind Australia's Meg Lanning.
It was the 10th time two England women have constructed centuries in the same ODI. They are now the first players in the current squad to score hundreds away from home.
Together the pair put on 188 for the first wicket, the fourth-highest opening partnership for England. Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins' 268 against South Africa in 2008 remains the highest opening stand.
It was also the joint-10th highest in England's history for any wicket. Beaumont and Sarah Taylor's 275 again against The Proteas in July 2017 is top of the tree.
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