Danni Wyatt-Hodge lit up the opening game of the Women's T20 World Cup with a magnificent hundred as England posted a tournament-record total in a dominant win over Sri Lanka at Edgbaston.
Wyatt-Hodge (105no off 62 balls) scored just a seventh century in tournament history - and her third in T20 internationals - as a huge roar from the packed home crowd greeted her reaching the milestone off the penultimate ball of England's innings.
After the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup got under way with a gravity-defying performance from the cast of the West End's Wicked, England themselves reached new heights as they set Sri Lanka 220 to win - soaring past the previous record of 213 they set against Pakistan in 2023.
Amy Jones (53 off 38) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (46no off 22) chipped in with valuable contributions of their own, although Sri Lanka were left to rue dropping the former twice - on 12 and 48 - as well as the England captain when on 14.
In reply, Sri Lanka never came close to threatening England's target, Freya Kemp finishing with superb figures of 4-21 - which included taking three wickets in four balls - as they were bowled out for 132.
Making England's dominant display all the more impressive is the fact that Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to insert the hosts, with Sciver-Brunt admitting she too would have preferred to bowl first.
But it proved a good toss to lose, as Wyatt-Hodge and Jones cashed in with a 135-run opening stand, one that truly came to life when Jones was first put down on the deep-backward square boundary to end fourth over, sparking a run of three fours off as many balls.
England brought up their fifty inside the six-over powerplay, while Wyatt-Hodge notched her individual half century off 32 balls in the 10th over, celebrating in Bebeto 'rock the baby' style - a fitting tribute to her newborn baby girl as well as a nod to the start of the FIFA World Cup.
Wyatt-Hodge hammered the first six of the tournament later in the same over, and notched a maximum of her own in the next, before Jones was put down again in the 12th - this one the worst of the lot as Sugandika Kumari shelled a simple, juggled chance off her own bowling that she was even afforded two goes at.
Jones' fifty came three balls later, but she was finally to perish in the 14th over when toe-ending one to Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu, who showed her charges how it was done when claiming an impressive grab diving forward at mid-off.
Sciver-Brunt more than kept the innings ticking, and it briefly looked like she might deny her team-mate her ton when hogging the majority of the strike in the final two overs of the innings that saw a staggering 44 runs added!
Four boundaries and a six came off the skipper's bat before Wyatt-Hodge - having contributed only two singles to that point - brought up her hundred with a couple of late fours of her own, giving the baby another rock in celebration.
A target of 220 was always likely to be beyond Sri Lanka, and so it proved, with their cause hardly helped by the early loss of both openers.
Lauren Bell (1-15) trapped Vishmi Gunaratne (6) lbw in the third over, while Wyatt-Hodge's dream display continued with a terrific over-the-shoulder catch to Athapaththu (4).
Linsey Smith (1-25) accounted for Imesha Dulani (7) cheaply, while Charlie Dean (2-18) claimed her second with the scalp of Hansima Karunaratne (11) to reduce Sri Lanka to 58-4 after eight overs.
Harshitha Samarawickrama (29 off 18) struck a few lusty blows before being cleaned up by Kemp, one of three to be bowled by the left-arm quick as England romped towards victory.
The Sri Lanka tail wagged ever so slightly to at least ensure they batted out their full 20-over allocation, with Sophie Ecclestone (2-27) eventually taking the last two wickets.
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt:
"What a way to start off the first innings. Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones looked so composed in what they were doing and built a huge platform for us to explode at the end.
"Yes absolutely [that was ruthless]. We were really composed and thought about the game in a really good way. 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.
"A massive win for us and we're really happy that that first game is done."
Player of the Match Danni Wyatt-Hodge:
"It was great fun out there. I really enjoyed playing in front of this amazing crowd here at Edgbaston.
"It's always great to get off to a good start in a World Cup as well. I really enjoyed playing out there with Amy [Jones] and then Nat just does what she does best at the end there, just hitting it to all parts.
"We said how important it was to start well and we did that tonight. It's always a really nice pitch here at Edgbaston and then our bowlers did incredibly well as well to keep them to that total on a really good pitch.
"Off to Southampton we go tomorrow and play Ireland on Tuesday night and hopefully we can do it again."
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through to the final at Lord's on July 5.
