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England v Sri Lanka: Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup opener – live | Women’s T20 World Cup
Key events
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.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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