Malaysia got their Thomas Cup campaign off to a perfect start with a 5-0 thrashing of England in their opening Group D match on Monday.

Lee Zii Jia as expected gave Malaysia the lead with a straightforward 21-10, 21-15 victory over Toby Penty.

The new Asian champ was in no mood to take his time against the Englishman, setting a fast pace early on which Penty struggled to keep up.

While the first game was a breeze, Penty improved in the second game and did well to close the gap after the interval as Lee looked to cruise to victory.

But victory was duly sealed after 36 minutes for the lead.

“I didn’t look down on him, despite his poor form recently. I’m just hoping to play my role well to help the country as much as possible,” said Lee afterwards.

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were next up, and they had to come from a game down to beat Ben Lane-Sean Vendy 19-21, 21-15, 21-16.

The English pair were particularly targeting Soh, who was poor in the Asian individual championships final last week, and it paid off as the shuttler gave away two costly points in the first game.

But the Malaysian pair improved significantly, cutting out the unforced errors to come away with the win.

“We aren’t fully satisfied with the win, but thankfully found the momentum in the second and third game. It’s a good start overall for us,” they said.

Armed with the 2-0 advantage, it was left to Ng Tze Yong to seal the clinical victory, which he duly did with a 21-16, 19-21, 21-11 victory over Johnnie Torjussen in 65 minutes.

German Open champions Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin added a fourth point with a 21-13, 21-9 win over Roy Easton-Zach Russ, before Leong Jun Hao completed the rout with a 21-11, 21-18 victory over Cholan Kayan.

Malaysia will face the United States tomorrow and are expected to confirm their path into the quarter-finals with a similar scoreline.

Lee will most likely not feature against the Americans to keep himself fresh for the big showdown against Kento Momota on Thursday.

Japan, meanwhile, beat the United States 5-0 in the other match.