Wyatt-Hodge’s record 105 sets up England’s 87-run rout of Sri Lanka in the World Cup opener

England could not have asked for a louder opening statement. On the first night of the Women’s T20 World Cup at Edgbaston, Danni Wyatt-Hodge battered an unbeaten 105 and the hosts piled up 219 for 1, the highest total in the tournament’s history, before bowling Sri Lanka out for 132 to win by 87 runs.

The result, on 12 June, sets an early marker in a competition the hosts badly want to win on home soil, and it leaves Sri Lanka with plenty to fix before their next game.

Wyatt-Hodge takes the new tournament apart

Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and put England in, hoping the early-evening conditions in Birmingham would offer her bowlers something. They did not. Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones came out swinging from the first over and never let Sri Lanka settle, the pair adding 135 for the opening wicket to take the game away inside the powerplay and beyond.

Wyatt-Hodge reached three figures off 62 balls for her third T20I century, a flat-batted, square-of-the-wicket assault that punished anything short or full. Jones was no passenger, making 53 from 38 before she became the only England batter to fall. That brought in the captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt, who treated the closing overs as target practice and finished 46 not out from 22 deliveries.

England’s 219 for 1 beat their previous tournament best of 213 for 5, set against Pakistan in 2023, and gave their bowlers a total to defend with complete freedom.

Kemp’s burst ends the chase early

Sri Lanka were never realistically in the contest, but Freya Kemp made sure of it. The seamer struck three times in four balls during a spell that gutted the middle order and finished with 4 for 21, comfortably the pick of the attack. Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone chipped in with two wickets apiece as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 132.

Nilakshika Silva offered the only real resistance, top-scoring with 37 from 32, but wickets kept falling at the other end and the asking rate had long since drifted out of reach. Wyatt-Hodge, predictably, was named player of the match.

What it means for the group

A win this emphatic does more than bank two points. Net run rate can decide who progresses from a tight group, and England have started with a cushion that few teams will match. For Sri Lanka, the batting effort against a disciplined England attack is the more pressing worry than the bowling figures.

The tournament now widens out, with India among the sides still to begin their campaign. England have served notice that the team to beat at this World Cup might just be the host.

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