News Sports Cricket Danni Wyatt-Hodge becomes first England player to achieve mammoth T20I milestone

Danni Wyatt-Hodge becomes first England player to achieve mammoth T20I milestone

Danni Wyatt-Hodge was the chief tormentor of South Africa with the bat in hand. The right-handed batter hammered 78 runs off just 45 deliveries with the help of 15 boundaries and a maximum in the second T20I.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge. Image Source : GETTY IMAGESDanni Wyatt-Hodge.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge rewrote England's T20I history books on Wednesday (November 27) as she became the first-ever England women's player to scale the 3000-run mark in the shortest format of the game. Wyatt-Hodge achieved the milestone during the second T20I played between South Africa and England at Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

The right-handed batter scored 78 runs off 45 balls to set the tone for England and laid the foundation for their series win. She batted at a strike rate of 173.33 and smashed 15 fours and a maximum during her whirlwind knock. Her knock allowed Nat Sciver-Brunt to take her time initially and then consolidate towards the latter half of her innings.

Notably, Wyatt-Hodge has racked up 3068 runs for England in 166 T20Is at a strike rate of 128.58. She has two centuries and 17 fifties to her credit in T20Is. Sciver-Brunt is the second-leading run-getter for England with 2746 runs in 128 T20Is. 

Most WT20I runs for England

Player Match Average Strike rate Hundreds Fifties
Danni Wyatt-Hodge 166 23.24 128.58 2 17
Nat Sciver-Brunt 128 28.90 118.05 - 16
Charlotte Edwards 95 32.97 106.93 - 12
Sarah Taylor 90 29.02 110.67 - 16
Heather Knight 125 25.25 119.96 1 7

Coming back to the game, South Africa were rattled by Wyatt-Hodge's aggressive approach and had no answers to the carnage. Sciver-Brunt also fired on all cylinders and played an unbeaten knock of 67 off 43 deliveries with the help of nine fours and a maximum. England posted 204 for the loss of four wickets.

In reply, South Africa never really got going in pursuit of such a humongous total and fell in the spinning web laid down by Sarah Glenn. Leg-spinner Glenn bowled her heart out and finished with 4/20 in her four overs. She killed the run chase and therefore was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM). 

England won the game by 36 runs and have taken a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.