England beat Scotland by 38 runs to extend winning start at Women’s T20 World Cup – as it happened | Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Key events
Raf’s report is in so I’ll call it a night. Thanks for tuning in, folks.
So England are top of their group with three from three, with Scotland sitting fourth on two points, trailing New Zealand due to a poorer net run rate. Scotland will face the White Ferns on Tuesday in Bristol; England are off to Lord’s to play West Indies on Wednesday.
That being said, it’s Sophia Dunkley who is named player of the match after hitting 57 from 37. She came in for the injured Nat Sciver-Brunt and, having made her international debut at the 2018 tournament, finally has her first T20 World Cup half-century.
England were 139 for five in the 17th over … but Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson put on a pyro-party with their rapid 30-odds. You couldn’t keep those two quiet: they struck with the ball and held their catches, too.
England beat Scotland by 38 runs
Pippa Sproul, remember the name. The 18-year-old, on her World Cup debut, skips down the pitch against Lauren Bell and slaps the slower ball to deep midwicket for four more. Bell finishes up, with Sproul run out going back for a second. England, yet to be seriously tested, are three from three.
19th over: Scotland 153-6 (Gordon 21, Sproul 22) Sproul, so inexperienced, is loving the occasion: she goes behind square on the leg-side again, finding four off Ecclestone, one of the best in the world. Gordon does the same. Scotland will go down here, but they’re finishing strong.
18th over: Scotland 141-6 (Gordon 15, Sproul 16) Gordon whacks Linsey Smith over midwicket, to the ropes, before smashing the ball back towards the bowler; Smith goes low but can’t pluck it. Dani Gibson isn’t fazed by the practice pitches over by the boundary – she leaps to pull off a cracking stop in the deep.
17th over: Scotland 132-6 (Gordon 8, Sproul 14) There it is, a first boundary in some time: Gordon tucks Dean away to the fine-leg rope. Sproul pulls off something a little similar, sweeping behind square for another four.
16th over: Scotland 121-6 (Gordon 3, Sproul 8) Sproul jumps to the offside to try and sweep … and Ecclestone nearly slides the ball on to the stumps. The boundaries have disappeared for Scotland, now requiring 80 from 24.
15th over: Scotland 117-6 (Gordon 1, Sproul 6) Kirstie Gordon, up against her former side, gets up and running with a clip into the leg-side. The equation is now 84 from 30 balls, with England on their way to another victory.
WICKET! Chatterji c&b Kemp 5 (Scotland 115-6)
Chatterji’s big swing doesn’t find the middle of the bat – the ball lobs high and back into the hands of the bowler, Kemp.
14th over: Scotland 112-5 (Chatterji 5, Sproul 3) Pippa Sproul, just 18 and playing her second T20I, laces Smith through point for a couple. But Scotland need plenty more: 89 from 36, to be exact.
WICKET! S Bryce c Gibson b Smith 34 (Scotland 109-5)
Linsey Smith is back to bowl her left-arm tweak … and she’s got the big one. Bryce gets decent contact with her swing across the line but can’t beat Gibson, who holds on at deep midwicket.
13th over: Scotland 107-4 (Chatterji 4, S Bryce 33) Lauren Bell’s back on as Scotland reach three figures and she drops short and wide: Bryce absolutely monsters a cut over point, all the way for six! That’s a stonking hit. Bryce swings hard again for a pull, but it brings her just one. Scotland need 94 from 42 balls.
12th over: Scotland 97-4 (Chatterji 2, S Bryce 25) Sarah Bryce slashes through the offside but Gibson’s tight lines keep the rest of the over quiet, the required run rate now up to 13. Scotland need 104.
WICKET! McColl c Kemp b Gibson 10 (Scotland 92-4)
Hello, folks … and there goes another one. McColl swings across the line, hoping for more joy after a boundary from the previous delivery. But it’s straight to Kemp in the deep, by the square-leg rope.
11th over: Scotland 88-3 (S Bryce 22, McColl 6) Finally Sarah Bryce has her eye in! Smokes Dean over cover, then whacks her through midwicket, two boundaries. A couple of close runs too, direct hits would have brought wickets. Last ball of the over, pulled fine for four! That’s 15 from the over, which is what they want.
Scotland now need 113 more.
Thanks all, I’m going to swap off for a bit, with Taha Hashim coming in.
10th over: Scotland 73-3 (S Bryce 9, McColl 5) Lap shot by McColl! First scoring shot, gets it fine for four. But they need three of those an over, and then some. Sarah Bryce tries to slap a straight six, and it falls well short, but mid off and mid on running back confuse one another, and neither goes for it. Two runs.
Halfway. Scotland need 128 runs more.
9th over: Scotland 65-3 (S Bryce 4, McColl 0) Megan McColl is almost bowled first ball by Ecclestone, and has no idea where the ball has gone. It beats leg stump, and the keeper, and McColl has to be told several times to run a bye.
WICKET! Carter b Ecclestone 29, Scotland 64-3
Top-edged sweep from Bryce falls safely towards long on. A yorker keeps Carter to one. Down the track, Bryce is trying to loft the drive but again can’t get all of it, flat to long on. At least they’re trying… but in the end, Eccles prevails! Flight towards leg stump, slow and loopy, and Carter must have a crack at it, aims over midwicket, and loses that pole instead.
8th over: Scotland 60-2 (Carter 27, S Bryce 4) Required rate climbing towards two a ball. England were about the same score, but Scotland don’t have their strike power down the order. Nobody does, bar perhaps the Australians. The Scots are facing Gibson but not attempting to lay into her. Medium pace? She has to go. But they’re tugging singles to deep backward square. Finally a shot from Carter, flat bat smash, Gibson almost takes an insane return catch, in the end doesn’t but saves four.
7th over: Scotland 55-2 (Carter 24, S Bryce 2) Swap one Bryce for another. Good hustle from Sarah, urging Carter up and down the pitch to run a sharp two. But Ecclestone’s first over has gone for three.
WICKET! K Bryce b Ecclestone 6, Scotland 53-2
One reason you can’t afford cheap overs against Dean is that four overs are yet to come from Sophie Ecclestone. Trying to smash her about is often a fool’s errand. She takes three balls to snare her 150th wicket in this format, flighting a ball that draws Bryce into a sweep, does her in the air, and skips over the stroke to hit middle stump.
6th over: Scotland 52-1 (Carter 23, K Bryce 6) Five singles from Dean, Scotland genuinely can’t afford overs like this. Working her away either side of the wicket, getting fielded at short fine or short third, not finding the gaps past those players.
5th over: Scotland 47-1 (Carter 20, K Bryce 4) Going after Smith, Bryce can’t get hold of her attempted big sweeps. Carter salvages something from the over with a fierce cover punch, picking the gap for four. The current rate has dipped under the required rate though, 9.2 versus 10.3.
4th over: Scotland 39-1 (Carter 15, K Bryce 1) Fraser made 23 from 13, got them a fast start, but now Kathryn Bryce needs the innings of her life.
WICKET! Fraser b Dean 23, Scotland 38-1
Scotland going after these runs! Good on them. Charlie Dean bowling, and Fraser nails a big slog sweep first ball, only for Gibson to slap it back into play on the deep midwicket rope, then adds to those two runs by sweeping the next ball fine for four. But there’s always the feeling that this stand won’t last, and in the end Fraser sweeps over the top of a Dean off-break. It’s pitching wide of off stump, but turns back a long way, and kisses the outside of the off stump. What a piece of bowling.
3rd over: Scotland 32-0 (Carter 15, Fraser 17) Bell to keep ringing, using the bouncer well to deny Fraser a scoring chance, too fast and it beats the bat. Fraser swings her off the pads to deep square, but Smith won’t make the errors Scotland did, and she stops the ball despite it spinning on the bounce. Carter, though, finds the gap, straight over the bowler’s head! Lofted drive, clean.
2nd over: Scotland 26-0 (Carter 10, Fraser 16) Linsey Smith now, with her left-arm non-spinning spinners. And the boundaries keep coming! Carter’s turn now, smacks her down the ground for four, then over cover. A fumble at point allows them to turn over strike, and Fraser hits her second six of the night, dead straight!
Drops, fumbles, and punished with runs: is this the same innings as the first? Early days, and it’ll surely change, but Scotland are ahead of the run rate.
1st over: Scotland 11-0 (Carter 1, Fraser 10) What a turnaround! Lauren Bell starts nicely, a single to Carter and then pitches up, fast, and has Fraser driving to the straight field, once, twice, thrice. Frustrated by the fifth ball, Fraser has a big swing and skews it up in the air over mid off. Running back, Gibson gets hands to it but knocks it on towards the rope, for four. So on the final ball of the over, the player who should now be out absolutely slots one over mid on for six! Huge shot, and it sounded so powerful off the bat. Quality attacking start for Scotland.
And we’re getting going for the chase.
Scotland need 201 to win
That wicket first ball of the innings seems a long time ago. Amy Jones was redundant. Dunkley turned the tide back, 57 from 37. Capsey backed her up, 40 from 25. Knight did her bet, 25 from 19.
Then the end phase was brutal, Kemp 39 from 16, Gibson 30 from 11. They have monstered the late bowling.
Scotland helped their own demise, starting with those two drops in two balls from Dunkley, and the many misfields that coughed up runs.
20th over: England 200-5 (Kemp 39, Gibson 30) Chatterji to bowl the last. Slow, short, wide, would have been a wide had Gibson left it, but instead she slams it through cover for four. Single, then full and smeared behind square by Kemp. That’s a 52-run stand from 18 balls, goodness me. Single to mid off, followed by a boundary. The pattern continues. This time Gibson just sets up her base and cannons the length ball through cover again. One ball to go, will they reach 200 again?
Yup! Length ball, heaved away through square leg, and the stand was 61 from 21. Wowowowow. Maybe England are the real deal?
19th over: England 182-5 (Kemp 34, Gibson 17) They’ve saved Gordon for late, but that might be a waste. Gibson threads the gap at point with a cut for four. Down the ground, and Darcey Carter dives and gets hands to it but parries it onto the rope. Third ball, skips down and plonks it into the stands. Gibson being as damaging as Kemp.
Gordon finally creates a single, bowling in at the hip. But the reprieve lasts for one ball, because the left-hander Kemp smears the fifth through midwicket, flat and fast like a stone skimming across a lake. And two more to deep mid to close.
That over costs 21. Scotland had hopes here and there, England are trampling them.
18th over: England 161-5 (Kemp 20, Gibson 2) Thumped back down the ground by Kemp for six! Sheesh, she is a hitter. Stands still and tall and just belts Kathryn Bryce straight, once, and twice, for six, either side of howitzering one along the ground through midwicket. She’s 28 off 12! The over costs 20.
17th over: England 141-5 (Kemp 9, Gibson 1) Yet another misfield to let Dani Gibson off the mark with a single, but it’s still a good over from Chatterji, four runs from it and the wicket. Accurate medium pace at the stumps and doesn’t get clobbered.
WICKET! Knight c Gordon b Chatterji 25, England 139-5
Commissioner Gordon snuffs out the batter signal! Not the best ball ever from Chatterji, leg stump line, but Knight sweeps and picks out short fine.
16th over: England 137-4 (Knight 23, Kemp 8) Rainey compensating with the ball for where she’s erred in the field. Good pace, in at the stumps, denying the line to hit… until Heather Knight gets down on one knee and manufactures a pull shot, almost a kneeling hook shot, making sure she can get cross-bat power and fine-leg placement into a ball that wasn’t short enough to do either while standing. That’s impressive. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that played before?
15th over: England 130-4 (Knight 18, Kemp 7) Hot shot. Freya Kemp on the back foot, pulls Fraser’s off break through wide long on. Such good placement, splits the boundary riders. Turns over strike, and Knight sweeps four through fine leg. Fraser around the wicket to the right-hander, trying to deny her room. But boundaries have come so easily for England. I don’t think they will do so for Scotland. Oh, there’s a third for the over, and another misfield! That’s five boundaries, is it, from fumbles? Rainey again, moving laterally, overruns it as Knight’s sweep shot spins away from her after a few skimming bounces.
14th over: England 115-4 (Knight 9, Kemp 1) Out comes Freya Kemp, a left-hander for the Scots to adjust to. Ropey pull shot for one. Knight skews a defensive shot close to cover point. Rainey has some pace. But what should be a great over, with two runs and a wicket from the first five balls, become less good with a drag-down on the leg stump, easy for Heather Knight to put away. And again, a top fielder would have slid across to save that, but Scotland’s effort does not.
WICKET! Capsey b Rainey 40, England 110-4
Great ball from Rainey! Angles in, a bit of seam away. Just a whisper, just a taste. But leather tastes timber. Knocks back the top of off stump, Capsey groping down the line of the ball, confused to see such a good ‘un in T20 cricket. The late call-up to Scotland’s campaign makes a difference. Capsey’s 40 off 25 means that much of the damage is done, but every wicket helps.
13th over: England 110-3 (Capsey 40, Knight 5) Kirstie Gordon comes back, a bit late to make much difference now though. England knock her about for four singles and take out one more of her valuable overs.
12th over: England 106-3 (Capsey 38, Knight 3) Yet another misfield. Rainey bowling, Capsey belts it with a pull, and Fontenla is right there on the rope but lets it through. Scotland have coughed up at least a dozen runs already, plus the unaccountable difference that taking their catches might have made.
11th over: England 96-3 (Capsey 29, Knight 2) England’s former captain Heather Knight to the middle. No comeback for her to the job, a la Joe Root – it’s Charlie Dean leading the side tonight with Nat Sciver-Brunt out.
WICKET! Dunkley c Rainey b K Bryce 57, England 92-3
Fourth time unlucky for Dunkley. Takes on Bryce with the slog sweep, gets a great piece of it, but the ropes are well back in this tournament, and after taking a few steps in, Rainey has time to get back and hold the catch just inside. That was a finger-stinger.
10th over: England 91-2 (Dunkley 57, Capsey 26) Now Alice Capsey gets into the act, sweeping four and then cutting four from Fraser’s spin, one side of the wicket and then the other. Dunkley adds another of her own, cut shot, whack! Scotland bleeding runs, up past nine an over.
Half century! Dunkley 50 from 33 balls
9th over: England 76-2 (Dunkley 52, Capsey 16) A celebration for Dunkley, after her successful counterattack, and more sloppy fielding from Scotland as they let through another Capsey boundary, her second of the Chatterji over. They’ve been far too generous and blown their good start.
8th over: England 63-2 (Dunkley 49, Capsey 6) Scotland are singlehandedly resuscitating England’s innings here. Chatterji at fine leg slides across and fumbles an easy stop over the rope for four, to Capsey’s benefit. Hannah Rainey the unlucky bowler there.
7th over: England 55-2 (Dunkley 46, Capsey 1) Dropped! And dropped again! Dunkley twice in two balls, facing Gordon. Hits her out to deep midwicket, where Katherine Fraser grasses a tough one running around to her right, has to lunge for it, but definitely doable. And then no excuses for McColl, who took the opening catch but snatches at this one at point, as Dunkley cuts. Three chances for Dunkley, who is damaging Scotland badly. Gordon’s over takes 1 for 4, but should have been two wickets or more.
WICKET! Wyatt-Hodge c Bryce b Gordon 7
Gone! Gordon comes back, wicket off the first ball of her over once again. England’s remaining opener tries to join in the fun, slogs across the line at a short ball, and skews it to mid on.
6th over: England 51-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 7, Dunkley 43) Day Out Dunkley! She’s been out of favour and out of form for a while, but Nat Sciver-Brunt’s absence has given her a chance, and she is seizing it. Fraser comes on, the offie, and Dunkley racks up three boundaries in the over again. Bang, over backward point, bang, down the ground, and bang, sliced through deep third. Wyatt-Hodge has 7 runs of a 50 partnership! Scotland started with a wicket but England have seized the Powerplay.
5th over: England 37-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 6, Dunkley 30) Dunkley again goes after Bryce, this time moving across to paddle four through fine leg. Wyatt-Hodge finally tries to go for a big shot, it plus as she clears cover but she has time to run three.
Teams
Didn’t get time for these earlier, here you go.
England
Amy Jones +
Danni Wyatt-Hodge
Sophia Dunkley
Alice Capsey
Heather Knight
Freya Kemp
Danielle Gibson
Charlotte Dean *
Sophie Ecclestone
Linsey Smith
Lauren Bell
Scotland
Darcey Carter
Katherine Fraser
Kathryn Bryce *
Sarah Bryce +
Megan McColl
Pippa Sproul
Priyanaz Chatterji
Kirstie Gordon
Chloe Abel
Hannah Rainey
Gabriella Fontela
4th over: England 28-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 3, Dunkley 24) They’ve endured some punches, now England are punching back. Dunkley senses this might be her night, and her job to take the game on, so she snatches three boundaries from Fontenla’s over. Goes inside out over cover, then uses the change in line to go over the leg side twice. Since when was Danni Wyatt-Hodge so quiet while someone else scores the runs!
3rd over: England 14-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 2, Dunkley 11) And that is dropped! Bryce, Kathryn, brings herself on to bowl, booming inswingers at medium pace, and Dunkley sweeps her to Chatterji at backward square leg, who has to throw herself to her left to get one hand on the ball, but could have held onto it. Dunkley gets a run, then regains strike, and celebrates her reprieve by heaving with the swing over long on, onto the cushion on the full for six.
2nd over: England 5-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 1, Dunkley 4) Backed up well by Gabriela Fontenla, the Scottish seamer is on the money early, and England’s batters aren’t game to take her one. Just four runs from the over, prodding about.
WICKET! Jones c McColl b Gordon 0
1st over: England 1-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 0, Dunkley 1) Dream start for Scotland! A wicket first ball for Kirstie Gordon would have been a good thing for England once, but she’s changed countries since then. The left-arm spinner loops up the first ball of the innings, and Amy Jones, the England keeper, gets forward and simply chips it to mid off. The kind of dismissal we’ve seen so often from her, but usually while facing Ellyse Perry. She’s gone, and so is the first over for a single.
Sorry we didn’t give you more preamble, we have two consecutive World Cups going on and it’s rather a stretch here at the Guardian sport desk. But we’re good to go as the game begins.
Preamble
Hello! It’s time for a British Isles derby in the women’s T20 World Cup. Is that appropriate nomenclature? I don’t know, I’m from Australia, someone will tell me off if necessary. But England are playing Scotland, who were so good against West Indies the other night before falling short. We’ll see how we go.
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