England Women vs Sri Lanka Women, 1st Match, Group B, ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 - CommentaryENGW vs SLW, 1st Match, Group B, ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

England couldn't have asked for a better start in this tournament. Must be so nice to go out and deliver in the way they have in the opening game itself after all the planning. Sets the tone nicely for them. As for Sri Lanka, they looked untidy with the ball and in the field. Some of the bowling to Wyatt-Hodge, giving her the room that she loves, was very ordinary. Next up is another difficult opponent for them in the form of New Zealand. At least the only way is up from here. That's it for now. Until tomorrow, it's goodbye from Sagar Chawla on behalf of Harish and Raju Peethala.

Nat-Sciver Brunt | England captain: (On England’s strong start with the bat in the tournament opener) Yeah, massive. What a way to start off the first innings, especially. Danny and Amy looked so composed in what they were doing, and obviously built a huge platform for us to explode there at the end. (On returning from a calf injury and her own batting performance) Yeah, Danny had me running from the first ball. Yeah, really happy to, I guess, find the middle. Obviously had a couple of innings in the warm-up games, but yeah, I suppose nothing compares to being out there. And yeah, it was really fun today. (On delivering the ruthless brand of cricket that head coach Charlotte Edwards has demanded) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, really composed and I think thought about the game in a really good way. And then, obviously, in the second innings, starting off with three wickets in the powerplay is going to make it difficult to chase a score like that down. So, yeah, a massive win for us. And yeah, really happy that that first game is done.

Chamari Athapaththu | Sri Lanka captain: (On Sri Lanka’s performance in the opening match) Actually, we are not playing our best cricket today and all three departments, we are not doing our best, so that’s why we lost today’s game. (On the bowling areas Sri Lanka need to improve) The most important thing is that the stump (keeping the stumps in play) is the most important thing, and especially the spinners, they are bowling different lines, different areas, so it’s not enough. And yeah, so we need to improve our bowling. (On the batting improvements required ahead of the next game) Actually, we need to play our positive cricket, fearless cricket all the time in the middle. And yeah, we lost a couple of wickets in power play and we are missing our momentum and England batted really good, but we need to improve our batting as well. (On preparing for the upcoming match against New Zealand) Actually, next game is New Zealand, so tough team again. Yeah, the big two teams, we play the first two games against the big teams. So we need to execute our plans and we’re going back to the classroom and decide what we can do and we have to plan a few things and we will bounce back in the next game.

Stats by Roshan Gede

Highest match aggregates in Women’s T20 WC
354 - IND-W vs NZ-W, Providence, 2018
351 - ENG-W vs SL-W, Edgbaston, 2026
339 - AUS-W vs IND-W, Cape Town, 2023 SF
333 - WI-W vs SA-W, Basseterre, 2010
328 - ENG-W vs AUS-W, The Oval, 2009 SF

4-fers on Women’s T20 WC debut
4/11 - Danni Wyatt-Hodge (ENG-W) vs SA-W, Basseterre, 2010
4/21 - Freya Kemp (ENG-W) vs SL-W, Edgbaston, 2026
4/27 - Diana David (IND-W) vs NZ-W, Basseterre, 2010

4-fers for ENG-W in Women’s T20 WC
4/9 - Holly Colvin vs PAK-W, Galle, 2012
4/11 - Danni Wyatt-Hodge vs SA-W, Basseterre, 2010
4/21 - Freya Kemp vs SL-W, Edgbaston, 2026

The 39-run stand between Nilakshika Silva and Malki Madara is the highest for eighth wicket or lower in Women’s T20 WC history.

Sri Lanka’s longest winning streaks in Women’s T20Is
9 - March 2024 - June 2024
6 - July 2024 - August 2024
5 - March 2020 - January 2022
5 - March 2026 - May 2026 (streak ended today)

Danni Wyatt-Hodge | Player of the Match: (On the atmosphere and opening the World Cup with a win at Edgbaston) Yeah, it was great fun out there. Yeah, what a crowd. Firstly, I really enjoyed playing in front of this amazing crowd here at Edgbaston. And yeah, what a start. (On her batting approach and partnership with Amy Jones and Nat Sciver-Brunt) Yeah, I mean, it’s always great to get off to a good start in a World Cup as well. Yeah, I really enjoyed playing out there with Amy. And then Nat just does what she does best at the end there, just hitting it to all parts. (On the celebration after reaching her milestone) Yeah, that was for Daisy. I hope TV got it there, a little cradle. Yeah, that was for Daisy. (On the importance of England making a strong start to the tournament) Yeah, we said how important it was to start well. And we did that tonight. It’s always a really nice pitch at Edgbaston. And then our bowlers did incredibly well as well to keep them to that total on a really good pitch. And yeah, off to Southampton we go tomorrow and play Ireland on Tuesday night. And hopefully we can do it again.

21:59 Local Time, 20:59 GMT, 02:29 IST: Thumping win for England who have laid down the marker in this tournament. Sent into bat, they smashed down the highest score in T20 World Cup history with a hundred from Danni Wyatt-Hodge. And then with the ball, they didn't allow Sri Lanka a sniff. It was Freya Kemp who came away with the wickets but they all did their job pretty well on a good pitch at Edgbaston. Let's hear from the Player of the Match.

Sophie Ecclestone to Malki Madara, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

England have taken the review off the final ball. They think there's an edge involved.

Sophie Ecclestone to Nilakshika Silva, THATS OUT!! Caught!!