England’s opening World Cup salvo suggests break with past

“What is this feeling so sudden and new?” pondered Edgbaston as they watched England’s openers of Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones steamroll their way to a partnership of 135. Fresh from being treated to a medley performance from the musical Wicked as part of an entertaining, if unusual, opening ceremony, a crowd of 14,865 saw England win their opening match of the T20 World Cup by 87 runs, setting a record total of 219 in the process.

Sri Lanka are ranked sixth in the world and it was only three years since they had beaten England in a T20 series here – a result that remarkably did not even prove to be the nadir of Jon Lewis’s two-and-a-half year reign as head coach. To have swanned to such a comprehensive victory, and in a manner that will have settled quite a few nerves at the top of the batting order, will have been a relief to an England side who have had a mixed build-up to their home World Cup.

The choice of England’s opening batters was one of the main questions hanging over head coach Charlotte Edwards, who lifted the trophy as England’s captain the last time the T20 World Cup was hosted here in 2009.

Throughout the warm-up games, Sophia Dunkley toiled at the top of the order. The 27-year-old failed to make more than 26 in the six warm-up matches she played in series against India and New Zealand. By the time England reached their final two matches ahead of the tournament, captain Nat Sciver-Brunt had returned from injury to bat at three with Jones promoted to open with Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley unceremoniously dropped.

An inability to make decisions based on form has long troubled this England side who have too often persisted with players who are not in the right shape to play. Whether Edwards would break with tradition and give nods to players like Alice Capsey, who has previously been inconsistent in an England shirt but had hauled them over the line in matches against India this summer, was an important indication of what her leadership would look like.

The fact that she did sets a strong precedent, as did the way in which players like Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp stepped up with the bat ahead of this opener. England’s players in preparations for the World Cup looked like they knew that reputation, or the ceiling of their talent alone, could not carry them into a starting line-up. There had to be performances to back it up.

Wyatt-Hodge and Jones made a strong case for that at Edgbaston. They made an unspectacular but unhurried start, happy to focus on running between the wickets rather than immediately hitting boundaries. They only found the ropes once in the first three overs, but their patience paid off and there were three fours hit back-to-back across the fourth and fifth. The lack of panic was a welcome relief in comparison to recent iterations of this team who have a tendency to start swinging if runs don’t immediately come. Jones got a bit lucky with some of her shots but Wyatt-Hodge was serene, on her way to becoming only the seventh woman to score a century at a T20 World Cup. When she reached it, she cradled her bat in tribute to her newborn daughter Daisy.

She had to wait a while to actually cross that line because Sciver-Brunt, who arrived at the crease after Jones had departed for 53 in 13.3 overs, would not stop hitting boundaries. Throughout all of England’s trials and tribulations in recent years, Sciver-Brunt has been a rare reliable spot. With injury issues and the weight of the captaincy, it has been hard to know exactly what form she was in. A brisk 22-ball 46 pushed England’s momentum even further. Her running between the stumps suggested the calf was in fine shape too, even though she did not bowl, as was expected.

It was always going to be unlikely that Sri Lanka would get anywhere near the mammoth total, but England remained switched-on in the field, another of their recent failings. Wyatt-Hodge took a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch to go with her batting performance whilst Freya Kemp’s 4-22 was the highlight of the bowlers. England will know there will be tougher tests to come in this World Cup, but getting a start this good against a competent team like Sri Lanka should not be underestimated. Scotland and Ireland now await this week.

Photograph by by Philip Brown/Getty Images