Danni Wyatt-Hodge scored an unbeaten 105 as England secured a dominant 87-run win over Sri Lanka in the opening game of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup at Edgbaston Stadium.
After being put into bat, England started cautiously, hitting the accelerator just before the end of powerplay to score 51 in the first six overs.
A 135-run opening wicket partnership between Amy Jones (53) and Wyatt-Hodge gave them the perfect launchpad. They kept pressing the advantage, making sure they got the quick ones and twos even though the boundaries flowed easily.
It has been a life-changing month for Wyatt-Hodge, whose partner Georgie gave birth to their first child on May 20. Just a few days later, she came out to score the opening hundred of the World Cup, seventh in the tournament history and only second by an English woman.
She made the most of the width afforded to her. Wyatt-Hodge brought up the milestone with a sweep for four and put a exclamation on a historic innings for England with another boundary on the final ball.
That meant, England scored 26 runs from the final over, another record for the history books. Carrying her bat through, Wyatt-Hodge ended at 105 off 62, with the help of 13 fours and a six.
Jones was a tad lucky as she was dropped on 12 and then again on 48. She brought up her seventh half-century in T20Is, scoring 53 off 38.
Sri Lanka struggled to hit the spots with the ball and were sloppy in field as well. They finally got a breakthrough in the 14th over as Jones mistimed a delivery by Malki Madara and ended up spooning a catch to Athapaththu at mid off.
However, that didn’t halt the English juggernaut. Nat Sciver-Brunt, who has recently recovered from injury, played with conviction and innovation to score 46 off 22.
Chasing a record target, Sri Lanka never really got going. Talismanic skipper Chamari Athapaththu fell for four in the fourth over, courtesy an incredible catch from wicketkeeper Wyatt-Hodge off Charlie Dean and Sri Lanka slipped to 39/3 in powerplay.
The only glimmer of hope was Harshitha Samarawickrama, who struck three fours and a six for 29. But Freya Kemp snuffed out the danger, as she got the ball to straighten and get past Samarawickrama’s defence.
Left-arm pacer Kemp, on a hat-trick at one point, impressed with her intelligent change-ups and finished with 4/22 in her four overs.
Lower down the order, Nilakshika Silva came up with a gritty 37, the highest score for Sri Lanka on the day, but it was too little too late.