Birmingham, June 13 (IANS) Hosts England launched the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in emphatic fashion, defeating Sri Lanka by 87 runs at Edgbaston on Friday after posting a tournament-record total of 219/1.
The score of 219/1 beat England’s highest score in a WT20I to date and set the scene for a commanding performance by Nat Sciver-Brunt’s team as they kickstarted their campaign with a bang.
Put into bat, England started slowly but accelerated as the powerplay ended, ending on 51/0 at the end of the first six overs, an opening 135-run partnership between Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt-Hodge laid the foundations for a big score.
Having been dropped twice already, at 12 and 48, Jones made Sri Lanka pay scoring 53 from just 38 balls for her seventh T20I half-century. She finally fell for 53 in the 14th over mistiming a drive back to Malki Madara who held a great catch at mid-off.
It proved to be just a momentary lapse of concentration however, as Wyatt-Hodge continued to dominate with one of the innings of the tournament, carrying her bat all the way through to an unbeaten 105 off 62 balls including 13 fours and a six, while playing brilliantly against a decent Sri Lanka attack.
It was an especially proud innings for Wyatt-Hodge, whose partner Georgie had given birth to their first child on May 20. Just four days later she is now the second Englishwoman to score a T20 World Cup century and just the seventh woman to score one in the history of the WT20 WC.
Her hundred arrived with a sweep to the boundary and she signed off the innings with another. England had scored 26 off the final over.
Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt played a great cameo with a late, powerful 46 from just 22 balls to see the score reach a massive 219/1.
Chasing a huge total, Sri Lanka never got going as the home side took quick wickets. Captain Chamari Athapaththu fell for just four in the fourth over after taking a stunning catch behind the stumps from Charlie Dean as England ran rampant on a dominant powerplay of 39/3.
Harshitha Samarawickrama held the innings together for Sri Lanka with 29 which contained 3 boundaries and a six, but she was ended by Freya Kemp with a straight delivery that went through her defence. Kemp bowled brilliantly with subtle variations, finding herself on a hat-trick at one point and finishing with figures of 4-22 off four overs, with the hosts left to ponder a big loss.
Nilakshika Silva fought hard at the bottom of the order, top scoring for Sri Lanka with 39 but the chase never really threatened England’s supremacy as the visitors were bowled out for 132.
The win was commanding and continued England’s unbeaten run in home World Cup matches. The England women’s team has never lost a World Cup, be it ODI or T20I, on home soil and their dominance is a real sign of intent from the team as they look to retain the title.
–IANS
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