Danni Wyatt is prepared to fail more often than not if it means she can play the sort of innings that propelled England to a 3-0 clean sweep of Pakistan in their T20 series at Headingley.
After two single-figure scores in this three-match series and having been unable to pass 21 in any of her last 10 innings across formats, Wyatt found some fluency with a sparkling 87 off 48 balls on Sunday.
While she was dropped on 12, 79 and 81, Wyatt peeled off a dozen fours and England’s lone six to underpin a total of 176 all out, which was enough for a 34-run win as Pakistan settled on 142 for four.
What an innings ???
87 runs. 48 balls. Danni Wyatt.
Match centre ? https://t.co/mL5Slljgfd#EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/LpdfGSHsPd
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 19, 2024
“I failed in the first two games so I really wanted a score but also I wasn’t getting too stressed about it because I’ve had ups and downs for most of my career,” the England opener said.
“The intent I have means I’m going to fail more times than I come off. But (head coach) Jon (Lewis) wants us to go out there and take the game on from ball one, which is what I do when I’m at my best.
“In T20 cricket, you’ve just got to back yourself and not have a fear of failure.
Wyatt has scored two of England’s four T20 hundreds and admitted she has been eyeing her third ton “for years”, before adding: “Hopefully I’ll get there one day.”
England captain Heather Knight told Sky Sports. “We’re tracking really well. There’s always things we can do better and we’ve got a few things to tune up but we’re still moving forward as a side.”
England now turn their attentions to a three-match ODI series against the same opponents which starts on Thursday at Derby.
“We haven’t played a huge amount of ODI cricket recently so pleased to play a bit more more,” Knight added.
