Opener pays tribute to daughter after helping hosts to highest ever women’s T20 World Cup total
England have launched their home Twenty20 World Cup in brutal fashion, crushing Sri Lanka by 87 runs at Edgbaston, firing a warning shot to their competitors.
After making the highest total in tournament history, 1-219, on the back of an unbeaten 105 by opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge, England dismissed Sri Lanka for 132 on Friday (local time).
Left-arm pacer Freya Kemp took a career-best 4-21, including three wickets in one over that reduced Sri Lanka to 8-92.
But it was England’s record-setting batting that shone on a sunny evening in front of 14,865 fans.
Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones, pushed up the order to open, combined for 100 inside 10 overs. Jones was dropped on 12 and 48 and was out for 53 off 38 balls, but her 135-run stand with Wyatt-Hodge was England’s highest opening partnership in T20 World Cup history.
Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, only just back from a torn calf in April, was dropped on 14. However, her unbeaten 46 off 22 balls shot her past Charlotte Edwards, the former captain and current England coach, to be the country’s highest run-scorer in T20 World Cups. Sciver-Brunt has 784 and Edwards 768.
Sciver-Brunt gave Wyatt-Hodge, on 97, the last two balls of the innings. She immediately hit behind square to the boundary, reaching the seventh hundred in tournament history and the second by an Englishwoman.
Wyatt-Hodge punched the air and made a baby-rocking celebration – she was only just back from maternity leave, after her wife gave birth to their first child on May 20.
“It was great fun out there,” Wyatt-Hodge said. “My century celebration was for my daughter, Daisy. I hope TV got it.”
She also hit the last delivery for four, her 13th, to finish her third T20 century 105 not out from 62 balls.
If that wasn’t enough, Wyatt-Hodge took a brilliant catch, running from deep square leg, over her shoulder with a dive to remove Sri Lanka’s biggest threat, captain Chamari Athapaththu (4), in the fourth over.
Wyatt-Hodge dropped her next two chances, but neither caused any great harm.
In the next matches on Saturday (local time), Ireland play Scotland, Australia take on South Africa, and defending champions New Zealand are up against the West Indies.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
Australia’s Group 1 fixtures
June 13: v South Africa, Old Trafford, Manchester, 11:30pm AEST
June 17: v Bangladesh, Headingley, Leeds, 7:30pm AEST
June 20: v Netherlands, Rose Bowl, Hampshire, 7:30pm AEST
June 24: v Pakistan, Headingley, Leeds, 3:30am AEST
June 28: v India, Lord’s, London, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 1: The Oval, London, June 30, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 2: The Oval, London, July 2 (3:30am July 3 AEST)
Final: Lord’s, London, July 5, 11:30pm AEST
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
