By Scott Heinrich BBC Sport at Chelmsford

Chelmsford: Bathed in light for the first day-nighter in women's cricket

As England and South Africa warmed up for the first women's day-nighter in the UK on Wednesday, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" provided the soundtrack for their every move.

It may just be that the announcer at Chelmsford is a big Cindy Lauper fan, but it was entirely appropriate anyway. They really were having a ball.

The poker-faced intensity that seems requisite when the men ready themselves for battle was nowhere to be seen.

But don't think for a moment they were unready for the task at hand, or approaching it flippantly. Far from it.

This, the first of the three-game NatWest Series, was serious business. Particularly to England, who had a score to settle after being turned over in the last World Cup.

As people began to filter in at irregular intervals, an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) representative hoped numbers would swell "for the girls".

Those hopes came good, and a crowd that would put to shame most at any typical County Championship game were treated to a piece of sporting history in the Essex sunshine.

Autograph hunters of all ages and genders were out in force

And they were an assorted lot, too; young and old, male and female, all enthusiasts.

The most pleasing sight for the ECB, which had staged a coaching clinic in the morning for local schoolgirls, was the throng of pre-pubescents clamouring at the boundary for signatures.

A mother sat with her three children and watched as England batted first, remarking on the "beautiful action" and "pace" of South Africa's opening bowler Alicia Smith.

Her two daughters, though largely silent, clearly agreed, but the boy was not impressed, muttering something about James Anderson being much faster.

"That could be you one day out there," the mother told her girls. "You just have to believe it." More music to the ECB's ears.

England batted very well, no question, but their running between the wickets was not so much cautious as to make Arjuna Ranatunga wish he were born female.

South Africa sang their hearts out but were beaten where it mattered

That was until hare-like skipper Clare Connor came to the crease. She could, nay should, teach the rest a thing or two about urgency.

The demise of debutant Lydia Greenway brought Jane Smit to the crease, though the announcer, perhaps trapped in some kind of Cindy Lauper daydream, told us she was in fact Rosalie Birch.

Upon Smit's dismissal for two the mistake was corrected, with due apology made to Birch, presumably for besmirching her name with a single-figure score. The real Birch set the record straight with a run-a-ball 30 not out.

And then the lights came on.

As anticipated, Lucy Pearson and Clare Taylor loved the twilight, moving the ball like a flightless dart. South Africa had no chance.

England were so effective that when the game was finished it was still dusk.