Key events
3rd over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Athapaththu 4, Dulani 4) Imesha Dulani in at first drop and she gets off the mark right away by climbing into a cut shot as Bell drops short. Two dots finish the over.
WICKET! Vishmi Gunaratne lbw b Bell 6 (Sri Lanka 14-1)
That is stone dead. DEAD. It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Bell pins Gunaratne bang in front but the batter still reviews despite it hitting half way up middle. Bell and England have their first.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 14-0 (Athapaththu 3, Gunaratne 6) Linsey Smith is going to bowl the second, good luck getting her tricksy spinners away. Oh. Athapaththu does exactly that with a loft down the ground but it plugs like a kettlebell into the outfield. That’s unlucky. Five off Smith’s first over.
1st over: Sri Lanka 9-0 (Athapaththu 0, Gunaratne 4) A decent first over for Sri Lanka, Gunaratne leans on a drive and gets it through the ring for four. Not middled but whatever, Sri Lanka need to get off to a flier. Amy Jones lets a bye past from a short ball and four leg byes from a misdirected final delivery make it nine off the first over.
Lauren Bell has the ball in hand, she casts a long shadow across a sun dappled Edgbaston outfield. She’s got a slip in place and England have a mighty wodge of chips to play with.
Guy Hornsby enjoyed that.
“Well, that’s the way to start your home World Cup, James. You wondered if there was going to be any nerves but if anything they were on Chamari’s side and England have been absolutely ruthless. I’m so chuffed for Wyatt-Hodge, who must know it’s likely her last tilt at this trophy. She was clinical, and sealed it at the end. What a performance this has been. You think the England attack will enjoy these next hour or so.”
We’re about to find out, here come the players for the second dig.
What a statement start to the tournament that is from England. Sri Lanka opted to chase and they’ve got a huge one on their hands shortly.
England make 219-1, the highest total in a WT20 World Cup!
Malki oversteps to give away a free hit in the final over. Her captain covers her eyes with her hand. NSB swats the freebie over the leg side for four. SIX! That is a classy, classy shot! That is the shot of the day, no question. A regal drive over extra cover and it clears the ropes. A powerful sweep brings Wyatt-Hodge onto strike and she has two balls to get the three runs she needs for a century.
Here we go…
There it is! A sweep perfectly bisects the fielders behind square and that is a wonderful hundred from Danni Wyatt-Hodge. She punches the air but looks completely unruffled as the crowd and her teammates go bananas.
Wyatt-Hodge steadies herself, lets a wide go through and then slams the final ball down the ground for four more. What a knock and what an innings for England, they’ve started this tournament with a bosh and a bang. 26 runs in total off the final over, yikes.
20th over: England 219-1 (Wyatt Hodge 105, Sciver-Brunt 46)
One over to go! Can Wyatt-Hodge get her ton?
19th over: England 193-1 (Wyatt Hodge 96, Sciver-Brunt 33) As good as Wyatt-Hodge has been, Nat Sciver-Brunt looks in epic touch in this short cameo. She scoops for four over the keeper and then blams a drive down the ground the next ball. Shot! A third boundary off the over from NSB and that might be shot of the day! On the up and whistled through extra cover.
18th over: England 175-1 (Wyatt Hodge 95, Sciver-Brunt 17) DROP! Sciver-Brunt is shelled in the deep and England scamper two. Tough chance diving forward but it’s another drop from Sri Lanka. Wyatt-Hodge goes to 95, she’s just one big shot away now!
17th over: England 168-1 (Wyatt Hodge 93, Sciver-Brunt 13) Sciver-Brunt paddles her opposite number for four behind square, eight more in total for England.
16th over: England 160-1 (Wyatt Hodge 90, Sciver-Brunt 8) Five overs for England to give it some real humpty and set a marker down first thing in this World Cup. Wyatt-Hodge makes room and paddles for three runs, Sciver-Brunt putting on the afterburners to hustle for the third which is good news as she obviously feels comfortable with her calf. Wyatt-Hodge goes into the nineties with consecutive fours off the end of final two balls of the over. What a knock this is!
15th over: England 146-1 (Wyatt Hodge 77, Sciver-Brunt 7) Sri Lanka just applying the brakes through an excellent over from Mithali who slings down consecutive yorkers but blots her copybook at the last, overpitching with her last ball and Sciver-Brunt crunches the full bunger for four in some style.
14th over: England 138-1 (Wyatt Hodge 75, Sciver-Brunt 1) Nat Sciver-Brunt arrives in the middle with a license to swing. She’s of the mark first ball with a punch through the covers.
WICKET! Amy Jones c Athapaththu b Madara 53 (England 135-1)
My days Sri Lanka needed that! Amy Jones plinks a drive and is well caught by the Sri Lankan skipper diving forward at mid off.
13th over: England 132-0 (Jones 52, Wyatt Hodge 71) Kavisha returns and is carved away for four on the off side by Wyatt-Hodge. A thick inside edge brings two more, it’s a shot a ball now and ten runs off the over. England could be eyeing up 200 here.
12th over: England 122-0 (Jones 50, Wyatt Hodge 63) Jones gets on the front foot and drives Kumari through the covers for a beautiful four. A clip down the ground sees her to her own fifty off 34 balls.
11th over: England 113-0 (Jones 42, Wyatt Hodge 62) Shot! Amy Jones steps across her stumps and nails a sweep off her middle peg for SIX! Jones and Wyatt-Hodge are in cruise control at Edgbaston, attacking every ball now with a full batting card sitting in wait. Twelve off the over.
10th over: England 101-0 (Jones 34, Wyatt Hodge 58) Athapaththu brings herself on for her second, Wyatt-Hodge dances down and flays away over point to bring up her fifty off 32 balls! Well batted, she’s so dangerous when she gets in. SIX! That’s the first big one of the tournament and it flies over long on off the blade of Danni Wyatt-Hodge! 100 up for England without loss, what a start to the tournament for the hosts.
9th over: England 86-0 (Jones 33, Wyatt Hodge 44) Nilakshika tightens things up for Sri Lanka with her accurate seamers, she doesn’t give any width and England have to make do with four singles.
8th over: England 82-0 (Jones 31, Wyatt Hodge 42) Kavisha Dilhari comes on to bowl her first over and is met by a ticking Wyatt-Hodge who slams a length ball through point for four. A drag down is pulled into the leg side, the boundary rider completely misjudges the sidespin and is left stiff legged and humiliated as the ball beats her and hits the sponge. Four more! A poor ball on leg stump is swept away. England are putting on a show and going at above ten runs an over!
7th over: England 69-0 (Jones 30, Wyatt Hodge 30) Sri Lanka are feeling the pressure here, Dasanayaka spears five wides down the leg side and is then swept all along the baize to the midwicket fence by Amy Jones. Oh no! The bowler oversteps to gift a free hit and Amy Jones duly smashes four down the ground. England rack up EIGHTEEN runs off the over and are cruising.
Lovely email through from James Higgot:
“I’m excited about this tournament, not least as an alternative to the other World Cup. I’m going to the Eng v NZ match at the Oval in a couple of weeks with my 8yo daughter. Her last taste of cricket was Day 4 of Surrey vs Essex in the Champo (a rain-affected draw) which she loved. I’m hoping that multi-day red-ball cricket can act as a gateway to the shorter stuff for her – I’ll report back.”
Enjoy James and daughter, please do let us know how you get on.
6th over: England 51-0 (Jones 20, Wyatt Hodge 28) Ayodhya with her second over, she tightens things up but England collect five runs off it and bring up an unbroken opening fifty stand.
5th over: England 46-0 (Jones 17, Wyatt Hodge 27) Madara Malki returns and Wyatt-Hodge gets stuck in, smacking a four over extra cover and following up with a rasping cut for four more. Do not bowl there! Wyatt-Hodge is gifted width and she doesn’t miss out, clattering her third boundary of the over. Flying start for England!
4th over: England 32-0 (Jones 16, Wyatt Hodge 14) Captain Athapaththu brings herself on to keep the changes coming. Jones is frustrated as she clubs two drag downs straight to the fielder at square leg. Five singles in a row… Jones then deploys the slog sweep and gets four but could/should have been caught on the boundary! Dilhari gets in a muddle thinking she could only palm the ball back in to save the six but she had space to make the catch. Has to go down as missed chance.
3rd over: England 23-0 (Jones 10, Wyatt Hodge 11) England are looking sprightly, Wyatt-Hodge uses her feet to dance down and lift over cover for three runs. The outfield is slightly slow due to yesterday’s rain. Both batters are quick between the wickets and looking for runs, eight off the over.
2nd over: England 15-0 (Jones 6, Wyatt Hodge 7) Medium pace from both ends as Mithali Ayodhya shares the new ball with her trademark slingy action. Glorious sunshine in Birmingham and Danni Wyatt-Hodge opens the shoulders to flay a length ball over cover point to get the first boundary of the tournament. Not middled but she got enough of it. A decent over for England as they get nine off it, Sri Lanka call for a spinner early doors, Kumari Dasanayaka is summoned for the next.
1st over: England 6-0 (Jones 4, Wyatt Hodge 1) A loud cheer greets England’s first run off the second ball of the over, Amy Jones clipping a single down the ground to open England’s account. Jones clips uppishly through a vacant midwicket, that would have been a dolly had there been a fielder there. Madara has the ball swinging back in to the right handed openers who each clip a single to make it six in total off the first over.
Erm. Actually there’s a long delay whilst something shiny behind the bowler’s arm is covered up.
That gives me just enough time to post the two groups and Raf’s preview of the tournament.
Group A
Australia
India
South Africa
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Netherlands
Group B
England
New Zealand
West Indies
Sri Lanka
Ireland
Scotland
Right then, here we go! Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones stride out to bat in bright sunlight. There’s a blast of Paranoid from local heroes Black Sabbath. The clock counts down and the crowd cheers. Right arm medium pacer Malki Madara has the ball in hand for Sri Lanka. Let’s play!
A coven/seam quartet of green faced witches belt out a couple of musical numbers at Edgbaston. Nasser Hussain sounds about as confused as I am on Sky’s coverage but it’s all good fun. Time for the anthems and then we’ll be into the action.
England have Alice Capsey carded to bat at number 4 and have gone for a triple spin threat through Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Linsey Smith.
Teams:
England: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell
Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakshika Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Vishmi Gunaratne, Imesha Dulani, Hansima Karunaratne, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Malki Madara, Mithali Ayodhya
Sri Lanka win the toss and choose to bowl first
There’s a performance from the cast of Wicked taking place at Edgbaston right now, I’ll tell you something that couldn’t defy gravity (I’m so sorry) and that is the one pound coin just flipped into the air by the England captain.
The Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu calls correctly and inserts the home side. Sciver-Brunt confirms she would have done the same but doesn’t look too mithered.
Sri Lanka have won their last T20I matches coming into the tournament and will prove stiff opposition for England this evening.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome. The *Real* World Cup starts today!
With 33 matches across seven venues the next few weeks promises to be a feast of T20 cricket on English soil. It’s sixteen years since the tournament was hosted on these shores, that inaugural tournament was won by an England side captained by Charlotte Edwards, the Head Coach of the current outfit.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side are not favourites for this tournament, the white ball juggernauts of Australia and India are the teams to beat but in T20 cricket one player having a day out can make all the difference. England do have plenty of big game players in their squad and they will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of both the Lionesses and Red Roses by lifting the trophy in front of their own fans at Lord’s on July 5th.
The tournament will see twelve teams split into two groups of six. During the group stage each side will play each other in a round-robin with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals.
England and Sri Lanka get things started at a bright and blustery Edgbaston this evening. The captains are headed out for the toss as I type so let’s get this thing rolling, as ever please do get in touch if you are tuning in. Play begins at 6.30 BST.