King, Aust honour Warne in World Cup win

Victorian legspinner Alana King says she owes her career to Shane Warne, praising the great after sprinkling a bit of his magic to get Australia home in their Women's World Cup opener in New Zealand.

King made her first World Cup appearance against England on Saturday, coming into proceedings with the match delicately poised.

England were 2-128 at the halfway mark in Hamilton, tracking ahead of Australia's score, as they doggedly chased 311 for victory.

King emulated Warne to claim a superb first World Cup wicket, luring Tammy Beaumont out of her crease spinning the ball away from the in-form opener, who was stumped for 74.

"It was just a nice ball that came out of the hand. Hopefully he (Warne) was proud of that," King said.

"And it got one of the Poms out and that's even better."

King then bashed her black armband in tribute to Warne.

"That was an instinctive moment to be honest. Nothing was planned," she said.

The 26-year-old grew up in Clarinda in Melbourne's south-east, Warne's old stomping ground, and like many, grew up idolising him.

"He was a big inspiration to me ... getting to the MCG on Boxing Day as a kid to see Warney just take poles for fun," she said.

"He was the big reason I picked up legspin and stuck at it.

"But I didn't realise what I was getting myself into," she laughed. "Legspin is a pretty hard task."

King finished with 3-59 and was credited by skipper Meg Lanning as the match-turner.

Another Victorian won player of the match honours, Rachael Haynes who struck a superb 130, combining with Lanning for a 196-run stand.

Haynes, in her 69th ODI, heaped praise on King, in her fourth.

"It was just exceptional legspin bowling," the 35-year-old said.

Australia's squad woke up to the news of Warne's death