Delhi: In the first match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 played in Birmingham, hosts England gave a strong performance and made a great start to the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka by 87 runs. England batted first and scored runs, in response to which the Sri Lankan team was never seen in the match while chasing the target.

Danny Wyatt-Hodge played a memorable innings

The biggest attraction of England’s innings was Danny Wyatt-Hodge, who scored an unbeaten 105 runs, taking a toll on the Sri Lankan bowlers. His innings, played in 62 balls, included 13 fours and one six. He maintained control of the batting throughout the match and did not give any chance to the opposition bowlers to make a comeback.

Amy Jones gave great support

Danny Wyatt-Hodge also got full support from opening batsman Amy Jones. Amy scored 53 runs in 38 balls and made a big partnership of 135 runs for the first wicket, which put England in a strong position and increased the pressure on Sri Lanka’s bowling.

Captain Nate Sciver-Brunt increased Sri Lanka’s problems

After the dismissal of Amy Jones, captain Nate Sciver-Brunt increased Sri Lanka’s problems by scoring runs rapidly. He scored unbeaten 46 runs in just 22 balls. Thanks to his aggressive batting, England scored a huge score of 219 runs at the loss of one wicket in the stipulated 20 overs.

Sri Lankan bowlers remained ineffective

Only Malki Madara got success in bowling from Sri Lanka. He got the wicket of Amy Jones, but for this he had to spend 51 runs in 4 overs. Other bowlers failed to control the English batsmen.

Sri Lanka’s batting disintegrated while chasing the target

Sri Lanka’s start to chase the difficult target of 220 runs was very disappointing. The team lost many important wickets including captain Chamari Atapattu in the initial overs itself. Vishmi Gunaratne, Imesha Dulani and Hansima Karunaratne also could not play big innings.

Harshitha Samarawickrama did put up some fight and scored 29 runs in 18 balls, but she did not get the expected support from the other end. Later, Nilakshika Silva tried to control the team by playing an inning of 37 runs, but Sri Lanka’s batting faltered under the pressure of increasing run rate.

Kemp wreaked havoc

The contribution of the bowlers in England’s victory was also no less. Freya Kemp bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets. He completely shook Sri Lanka’s middle order and made the match one-sided.

Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean also took two wickets each, while Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith got one wicket each. England’s bowlers never allowed Sri Lanka to come close to the target by taking wickets at regular intervals.

England registered a big victory

The entire Sri Lankan team was all out for 132 runs in 20 overs and England won the match by 87 runs. With this big win in the opening match of the tournament, England’s net run rate has also strengthened and the team has given a clear message to its rivals that it is among the strong contenders for the title.