WYATT powers, KEMP stifles, as ENGLAND secure a dominant win over SRI LANKA

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 1 - England vs Sri Lanka at Birmingham on 12th June 2026. 

Result - England beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

Points - England 2(2), Sri Lanka 0(0)

Toss - Sri Lanka

Umpires - Eloise Sheridan, Jacqueline Williams, Claire Polosak (TV)

Player of the Match - Danni Wyatt Hodge

Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

ENGLAND INNINGS

POWER PLAY - NO TROUBLE FOR ENGLAND
The 10^th Women’s T20 World Cup began at Birmingham with a Amy Jones gently prodding an Malki Madara ball to the cover. But the proceedings that followed were not at all gentle for Sri Lanka as England bludgeoned their way to pile up 219/1 in 20 and set a new record for the highest Team score in a World Cup match. Amy Jones and Danielle Wyatt Hodge stepped up after watching out the first ten balls. Danny spanked Mithali over extra covers to bring the first boundary of World Cup in the 2nd over. The duo started finding boundaries on both sides of the wicket at regular intervals as England finished power play strongly at 51/0. Except a tough chance where Dilhari could have pulled off stunner at deep square leg when Amy didn’t pull Chamari’s short ball with full control, the English batters seldom looked in trouble.

MIDDLE OVERS - SRI LANKA’S LONE MOMENT OF JOY
The English batters added more power after play as they found boundaries easily. The next two overs after power play gave England 31 overs as Sri Lanka bowlers started to err with their lengths. When Danni sent Chamari’s ball over the covers for a well made 50 of 32 balls and cradled her bat for celebrations, England were well on course at 92/0 in 9.2, a perfect mathematical tribute to the 10^th World Cup. In the same over, Danni sent one flying over the long on as the first six of the tournament brought England to 100. At 101 without loss at half way mark, England were cruising their way to a huge total. 

As the Danni – Amy show continued, Sugandika missed a tough return catch and Amy brought her 50 of 34 balls in the same 12^th over. Sri Lanka’s only moment of joy came in 13.4 when Amy didn’t time Malki’s outswinger well and Chamari took a well timed low catch at the mid off.  Skipper Natalie Sciver Brunt walked in after an 138 run opening partnership  and it was power from both sides. England went to the death overs with score reading 160/1 in 16, again a perfect mathematical tribute to the 10^th World Cup.

DEATH OVERS – SETTING NEW RECORDS
Sri Lanka conceded just 15 runs combined in the 17^th & 18^th over’s which were good if not gold given the carnage. However Nat scored 3 boundaries of the penultimate over and England were 193/1 going into the final over. Danni at 96 looked all set for a hundred while Nat had made a quick 33 of 18. After a quick single by Danni, Malki bowled a couple of wides and no balls and Nat scored a four and six and even brought her 3000^th ODI run. 16 runs were already scored in 3 legal boundaries and the point of contention was whether Nat would score a fifty or Danni would score a century. Nat settled for a single to allow Danni the honours in the 4^th ball. Danni swung Malki over the short fine leg to bring the 8^th hundred in 10 World Cups (and the highest ever team score in a T20 World Cup) and Birmingham erupted with joy. Another wide and four followed as England finished with aplomb at 219/1.

SRILANKA INNINGS

POWER PLAY – SRI LANKA IN TROUBLE
Sri Lanka had an Himalayan chase in hand as their eldest and youngest,  Chamari Attapattu and Vishmi Gunaratne walked in. The openers had a tentative start against Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith. In the 1st ball of 3^rd over, Lauren had Vishmi’s pad in front of the stumps and the DRS confirmed the bad news for Sri Lanka. In the second ball of the 4^th over, Charlie Dean forced Chamari to miscue a pull and Danni took a stunner at square leg. In the 4^th ball of the 6^th over, Imesha Dulani was shuffling across the line to unsettle Linsey but swept the ball straight to Freya Kemp at square leg. At 39/3 in powerplay, Sri Lanka were in all sorts of trouble.

MIDDLE OVERS – FREYA PUTS SRI LANKA IN FRAY
Hansima Karunaratne and Harshitha Samaravickrama were looking to settle things a bit before Charlie’s ball spun its way out of Hansima’s heave to clip her pads in the 8^th over. They decided not to review the LBW and it proved right. Harshitha who looked the most convincing of the batters hit Sri Lanka’s first 6 in the first ball of Freya Kemp. However two balls later, she failed to read a slower one and Freya had the last laugh. At halfway mark, Sri Lanka was half side down at 77 and a target of 143 from 10 with 5 in hand was more than daunting. A couple of drops from Danni was the talking point before Freya brought in Friday the 13^th effect. In the 13^th over just after a Danni drop, Freya picked 3 wickets to completely swing the match in England’s favour. Kavisha Dulhari flicked one straight to Linsey at deep square leg in the 4^th ball. Kaushini Nuthyangana and Sugandika Kumari lost their stumps in the 5^th & 6^th balls respectively.

After Linsey’s quiet over, all eyes were on the first ball of 15^th over as Freya was on a hatrick. Freya beat Nilashika De Silva’s swing but had her feet firmly on ground and Amy couldn’t claim a stumping. Sri Lanka played the next few overs without losing a wicket and were already staring at death with score reading 110/8 in 16 overs. Another 110 in 4 overs with 2 wickets was firmly impossible.

DEATH OVERS – ENGLAND CAN GET NOTHING WRONG
Nilashika had her moments tonking Linsey over the long on for a 6 in the 18^th over and smashing Sophie for a four in the first ball of the 19^th over. When she tried to repeat, Sophie Ecclestone had Alice Capsey taking it on the long on. Nilashika was the top scorer with 39 from 33. Sophie’s last ball of Sri Lanka’s last over seemingly slid past Malki to Amy. But England reviewed it for caught behind and ultra edge ruled a small spike in England’s favour. Nothing much could go wrong for them as they bowled out Sri Lanka for 132 runs to secure a dominant 87 run win.