Wyatt-Hodge inspires England rout of Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup opener

England made a flying start to the Women’s T20 World Cup as Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s blistering century inspired an 87-run rout of Sri Lanka on Friday.

Wyatt-Hodge, whose wife Georgie gave birth to their daughter Daisy last month, celebrated becoming a parent with a superb innings of 105 not out in just 62 balls at Edgbaston.

It was only England’s fifth women’s T20 hundred and Wyatt-Hodge has three of them.

Wyatt-Hodge had made single-figure scores in each of her last three knocks since returning from maternity leave.

But she propelled the hosts to 219-1, their highest ever score in the tournament — eclipsing their 213-5 against Pakistan in 2023.

Sri Lanka’s six bowlers leaked 23 fours and three sixes while their fielders dropped three catches.

They never looked like overhauling England and subsided to 132 all out in a one-sided tournament opener.

Freya Kemp was England’s star bowler with figures of 4-21, while Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone finished with two wickets apiece.

Wyatt-Hodge had celebrated her century with a cradle-rocking gesture in tribute to her new baby.

“It was great fun out there. What a crowd. What a start,” she said.

“It’s important to capitalise on nights like tonight. I said when I got to 50: ‘right, double it now’.

“My celebration was for my daughter Daisy. I hope TV got it!”

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu admitted her side were well below par.

“We are not playing our best cricket or doing our best,” she said.

“We need to play positive and fearless cricket. We lost our momentum in the powerplay, and we need to improve our batting.

“Our next game is New Zealand which is a tough game and we need to execute our plans. We have to go back to the classroom and bounce back.”

 

Brief scores:

At Edgbaston

England 219-1 (D Wyatt-Hodge 105 no, A Jones 53) v Sri Lanka 132 (F Kemp 4-22)

England won by 87 runs