105*, 16, 7, 65, 89*
These are not just big runs, but also quick runs. Danni Wyatt-Hodge is providing England with the kind of starts every captain in the tournament could be envious of. She is the leading run-scorer in the ongoing World Cup, yet again trying to announce herself as one of the best openers in T20 cricket.
Three years earlier, during the Women\’s T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa, she was on her phone in the team bus en route to the game against Ireland when she found out that she had no takers in the inaugural player auction of the Women\’s Premier League. \”I was very hurt; it was a very heartbreaking moment, pretty embarrassing as well actually,\” Wyatt-Hodge had told Cricbuzz during the second season of WPL.
To be fair, it wasn\’t her best year in T20s leading up to the auctions; her performances in internationals, WBBL and for Southern Brave overall were merely par, nothing extraordinary. But the feelings were understandable. Over the years, she had carted Indian bowlers plenty of times; and in India especially, she had displayed those hard-hitting skills even against Australia. In 15 T20I innings in India, she had scored at an average of almost 30, and a strike rate of over 140. She carried a strong reputation of being a match-winner; her explosiveness matched by few other overseas batters.
Understandably, as several listicles and predictions were drawn on which overseas players would enjoy a big pay-day in that auction, her name kept popping up. In the tournament, however, there was no place for her. It made her wonder if she was really not as good as she had come to believe.
\”I was embarrassed,\” she confessed. \”There was all the hype and talk, especially on social media. People were saying \’which team, which team?\’ and then to not get one bid, was a pretty weird feeling.
\”(Heading to that match against Ireland) I just wasn\’t in the right headspace at all. I was trying to park that thought because I had to go and perform for England. I just managed to get through the game.\”
Wyatt-Hodge scored 16 that evening; getting run out while attempting a non-existent single. There weren\’t many to share that disappointment with her; seven of the players in that England World Cup squad had found a team in the WPL.
\”That night luckily Maia Bouchier texted me and I had ordered a Thai take away. It was nice to have Katherine Brunt with me, because she didn\’t get a bid either. So me and her had some good chats. After a few days, I got over it and carried on with life and cricket.\”
Later that year, she withdrew from her Women\’s Big Bash League contract with Perth Scorchers citing fatigue due to a hectic summer. \”I had a really busy summer,\” she said, reiterating for the effects. \”Like, really busy.\”
She had set sight on the WPL, the most-watched women\’s cricket league in the world. \”First, I wanted to have a break. I wanted to be in a good mental state for a good India series in December and to give myself the best chance to get picked in the WPL.
\”When I look back at it now, it was a very good decision. I hate letting people down. I hated telling Perth Scorchers that I\’m pulling out, because I had never done it before. I just felt like I wouldn\’t have been able to give it my all. And thinking that would\’ve tipped me over the edge a bit, mentally.\”
Wyatt-Hodge got picked in the WPL that year by UP Warriorz, coached by Jon Lewis who was also serving as the head coach of the England team then. However, she didn\’t get a game. However, since then, she has been picked for each of the seasons of WPL, but game time has been limited, and the impact even more so.
But she has turned a corner in her career since then. Since the 2024 T20 World Cup, she has scored 672 runs in 21 matches, at an average of 37.33 and a strike rate of 144.51. No player in the world has scored more runs at a better strike rate and average than her in this period. And these haven\’t been easy runs; 13 out of these 21 T20Is have been played against India, Australia and South Africa, in five of which she has stroked half-centuries.
And this isn\’t limited to a short period. Even as T20 batting has evolved rapidly, she has repeatedly turned up with big performances against big teams.
In the last five years
| Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 8 | 262 | 37.42 | 137.89 |
| India | 17 | 447 | 27.93 | 134.63 |
| New Zealand | 12 | 310 | 28.18 | 134.78 |
| South Africa | 9 | 315 | 39.37 | 135.19 |
Moreover, in this period, across conditions and oppositions, she has been nearly as destructive and as prolific (apart from a slight slow down in New Zealand and UAE)
* * * * *
Wyatt-Hodge, who had made her international debut as an offspinner who could bat, could never really give wings to her bowling skills. \”I had a bad action, I used to lean back and twist. So I used to get pain in my lower back. It was making me bowl short, making me bowl not very good. At that time, my batting was getting better and better,\” she explained.
Gradually her batting improved, and England started seeing her as more than just a lower order slogger. The consistency of her batting returns improved, and the explosive starts she provided at the top, made her among the most dangerous openers in T20 cricket. Her athleticism in the field offered a more dynamic range to her skills. \”I\’m still bowling. In the nets. You just haven\’t seen it,\” she jokes. \”I\’m still bowling. I bowled 10 balls in The Hundred, and I went for 8. I bowled lovely, round the wicket, straight to the wickets.\”
While she put to rest her bowling ambitions long back, one thing that was on the must-achieve list of Wyatt-Hodge, who at the time of the interview was already past 250 international games, was winning a T20 World Cup – the one key missing piece of silverware in her cabinet.
Those dreams are now close; precisely two wins away. At home, England are in form and she is leading the run-charts. She kickstarted her 2026 World Cup campaign with an unbeaten century against Sri Lanka, a personal milestone she was chasing for a while. \”I\’ve been after that third T20 hundred for a few years now, so yeah, chuffed a bit to get out there. At Edgbaston in front of my family as well. It was really, really special,\” she admitted after the game.
Again, not all of those runs have come easy. She nearly stroked another century against New Zealand, but her innings could only reach as far as 89 by the time the target was surpassed. In the hot conditions in London, she also ran 31 singles and 5 doubles with her batting partners.
\”That was the hottest I\’ve ever played cricket in, in this country,\” she claimed. \”Very close to two years ago in Dubai, actually, when we played Scotland at 2 PM. That was hot, and this was very close. Made the most of being at the non-striker\’s end, taking some deep breaths. But yeah, it was very enjoyable. I\’d rather play in the heat than the cold any day, so I\’m not complaining too much,\” she had said elaborating on the challenges of playing the innings.
While personal ambitions and weather conditions have challenged Wyatt-Hodge in the matches in the ongoing World Cup, there hasn\’t been a strong push from the opposition. It\’s largely been smooth sailings for her so far but if England are to go till the end of the competition, she will have to deal with the challenge posed by the two of the strongest bowling units in the tournament. In a 16-year long career, this is Wyatt-Hodge\’s most evolved version as a batter – more than a slogger, more than just a destructive opener. Her game has evolved and matured with age. And she now finds herself with greater responsibility than ever before, to shoulder England\’s march to the world title.
Today, she sits seventh on the list of batters with most T20I runs in women\’s cricket, just 15 runs short of Stafanie Taylor\’s returns. There\’s a peculiar cruelty to player auctions that can make the best wonder if they had imagined their self-worth. Should her efforts lead England to lift the World Cup in less than a week\’s time, it will not only fulfill her long-time dream, but hopefully also make her believe that she wasn\’t fooled into thinking how good a player she was.