England knock out holders New Zealand

Danni Wyatt-Hodge continued her scintillating form in the Women's T20 World Cup 2026 as her 53-ball 89 – with 15 fours and a six – paved the way for England's comprehensive nine-wicket win over New Zealand at the Kennington Oval in London. As a consequence, the defending champions were dumped out of the tournament.

New Zealand began their title defence on terrible footing, losing to West Indies and Sri Lanka. Though the climb since has been steep, they arrived at their final league game against England with the opportunity to still sneak into the semis. That was courtesy Ireland, who had downed West Indies earlier in the day. New Zealand went into Saturday's fixture knowing that a certain margin of victory would've helped them usurp West Indies to the second semifinal spot from the group. Unfortunately for them, they ran into the form team who offered no room for such possibilities.

New Zealand openers Amelia Kerr and Isabella Gaze played with the responsibility of everything being on the line, as they took their team to 44/0 in the Powerplay and extended the opening stand. But right around the halfway stage, England struck repeatedly. Freya Kemp had Gaze caught, Danielle Gibson cleaned up Amelia and Izzy Sharp in the same over to reduce New Zealand to 70/3.

Sophie Devine and Brooke Halliday revived the innings with a swift fourth-wicket partnership, adding 54 off 29 deliveries. They went into the death overs at 122/3, and managed to add 41 runs to that tally as Maddy Green (17* off 13) and Suzie Bates (19 off 13) chipped in. England were buoyed in the first half of the game with economical bowling from Linsey Smith (4-0-26), Lauren Bell (2-0-24) with a wicket, and Sophie Ecclestone (4-0-24).

England then followed up their disciplined bowling performance with a batting show that blew New Zealand out of the water. By the time Nensi Patel broke through with the wicket of Amy Jones, England already had 36 runs in four overs. Wyatt-Hodge then took over in the company of Sophia Dunkley, who finished undefeated on 49 off 38. The pair slammed 24 fours and one six (from Wyatt-Hodge) between them, adding 128 runs off 80 deliveries to seal the win.

Their flying alliance began by targeting Devine in the sixth over, taking three boundaries off it. Shortly after the Powerplay, there was a brief rain spell. Even at that point, England were well ahead of the par score. Play resumed after a 17-minute break and no adjustments were needed to the target. The boundaries continued to flow even after this halt, Wyatt-Hodge not giving up any momentum as she laid into Amelia in the ninth over to slam three fours. Off Patel in the next over, she brought up her 33-ball half-century.

The pair took at least one four in the next three overs, racing away in the chase. In the 15th over, Dunkley brought up the 100-run stand with yet another four off Amelia. The first and only six of the England innings came in the 17th over when Wyatt-Hodge launched a Jess Kerr delivery over mid-wicket. The chase ended off a wide in the 18th over from Lea Tahuhu.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 163/6 in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr 42, Sophie Devine 30; Danielle Gibson 2-30) lost to England 164/1 in 17.2 overs (Danni Wyatt-Hodge 89*, Sophia Dunkley 49*) by 9 wickets