Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and opted to field first in her side’s Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 opening clash against hosts England, in the tournament’s first ball of the eight-team event in England and Wales.
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt tossed the coin, with Athapaththu calling heads.
The opener is the first competitive outing of the World Cup, which the ICC and YouTube earlier the same day announced will be streamed live in emerging cricket markets. All 12 captains had gathered last weekend in London for the Captains’ Carnival on Waterloo Bridge, where the ICC said pre-tournament ticket sales had hit a record 200,000.
Sri Lanka’s 15-player squad was confirmed in late May, with Athapaththu retained as captain. The team warmed up for the tournament with a seven-wicket win over the Netherlands earlier this week, and were given an upset chance by the bookmakers heading into the opener against an England side that has been the tournament’s bench-mark host.
The match is the first of a Group B campaign that will pit Sri Lanka against several of the top-ranked sides in the women’s T20I game over the next fortnight.
Source: Ada Derana — T20 Women’s World Cup: Sri Lanka opts to bowl in opener.
