London: England made a flying start to the Women´s T20 World Cup as Danni Wyatt-Hodge´s blistering century inspired an 87-run rout of Sri Lanka on Friday.
Wyatt-Hodge, whose wife Georgie gave birth to their daughter Daisy last month, celebrated becoming a parent with a superb innings of 105 not out in just 62 balls at Edgbaston.
It was only England´s fifth women´s T20 hundred and Wyatt-Hodge has three of them.
Wyatt-Hodge had made single-figure scores in each of her last three knocks since returning from maternity leave.
But she propelled the hosts to 219-1, their highest ever score in the tournament -- eclipsing their 213-5 against Pakistan in 2023. Sri Lanka´s six bowlers leaked 23 fours and three sixes while their fielders dropped three catches.
They never looked like overhauling England and subsided to 132 all out in a one-sided tournament opener.
Freya Kemp was England´s star bowler with figures of 4-21, while Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone finished with two wickets apiece.
Wyatt-Hodge had celebrated her century with a cradle-rocking gesture in tribute to her new baby.
“It was great fun out there. What a crowd. What a start,” she said.
“It´s important to capitalise on nights like tonight. I said when I got to 50: ´right, double it now´.
“My celebration was for my daughter Daisy. I hope TV got it!”
