After years as a bit-part player, England’s Danni Wyatt says she is relishing her role at the top of the order ahead of the Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean.
To read the interview in full, order a copy of the latest Wisden Cricket Monthly, also available in digital form
Wyatt made 69 T20I appearances before passing fifty but has now scored two centuries and three half-centuries in her last 13 innings, with a strike-rate of 160 during that period, and will be vital to her team’s hopes as they bid to win a second world title in as many years, and their first World T20 since 2009.
“I’ll thrive off that extra responsibility,” says Wyatt in the November issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly, out on October 25 and available to order here. “I’ve got the confidence now after my good last 12 months in an England shirt and those two T20 hundreds to keep in my memory bank.”
Having been at various points in her career a benchwarmer, kamikaze pinch-hitter, middle-order batter who bowls a bit and bowler who bats a bit, Wyatt was promoted to open during the T20 leg of last winter’s Ashes and smashed a 56-ball century at Canberra, the first by an England women’s player, to lead her side to a record run-chase of 181 and square the series.
In an innings where only one other batsman reached double figures, Wyatt hit 13 fours and two sixes to mark her arrival as an international cricketer, seven years after her debut.
The Women’s World T20 begins on November 9 with England starting their campaign against Sri Lanka in St Lucia on November 10.
Joining England and Sri Lanka in Group A are South Africa, Bangladesh and hosts West Indies, with the top two teams progressing to the semi-finals. Australia, New Zealand, India, Ireland and Pakistan are competing in Group B.
