Danni Wyatt-Hodge gave England the kind of start that settles a home crowd in its seat. By the end of six overs in the Women's T20 Cricket World Cup opener at Edgbaston, England were 51-0 against Sri Lanka, with Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones unbeaten after an opening stand that had already reached fifty.
Play began at 6.30pm BST on 6 June 2026, and the hosts were immediately into their work in bright sunshine in Birmingham. The match was the first of the tournament, which is why every run felt amplified and every boundary drew a response from the stands.
Wyatt-Hodge struck the first boundary of the tournament in the second over, driving over extra cover as England moved to 15-0, and the scoring never really slowed. They were 23-0 after the third over, 32-0 after the fourth and 46-0 after five, before reaching 51 without loss by the sixth.
Sri Lanka tried to change the rhythm early. Captain Chamari Athapaththu brought herself on to bowl in the fourth over, after Kumari Dasanayaka had been summoned for the second, but England kept finding gaps and kept the board ticking. The tourists were also up against an England lineup built for control as well as aggression, with Nat Sciver-Brunt captaining and three frontline spin options in Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Linsey Smith.
That balance mattered because England did not need to force the pace. Wyatt-Hodge and Jones did that for them. The unbeaten opening stand had turned the opening game into a statement of intent before the match had even reached the halfway mark of the powerplay, and it left Sri Lanka with immediate work to do just to drag the contest back to level.
What happens next is simple enough: England have given themselves a platform, but the shape of the game will depend on whether they can turn that start into a total Sri Lanka cannot chase under the lights at Edgbaston.
