Who's playing whom?
Hosts England will take on Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. The match is set to begin at 6.30pm local time (5.30pm GMT).
England hold an advantage in this contest, having won 10 out of the 12 T20Is between the sides. Sri Lanka though will draw confidence from recent history, having won the last two T20Is against England in 2023. This will be just the fourth time these two sides meet in the T20 World Cup.
England arrive at the tournament having won four out of the six matches since the start of the year, while Sri Lanka come in with momentum on their side, riding on five consecutive T20I wins that include series wins against West Indies and Bangladesh.
Team news and likely XIs
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt warmed up with a half-century against India in the warm-up game on her return from calf injury. She is set to play as a batter for now and hopes to bowl towards the back-end of the tournament.
England (probable): 1 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 2 Amy Jones, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), 4 Alice Capsey, 5 Heather Knight, 6 Freya Kemp, 7 Dani Gibson, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Linsey Smith,11 Lauren Bell
Sri Lanka replaced their ambidextrous 17-year-old spinner Shashini Gimhani with right-arm quick Chethana Vimukthi, after Gimhani picked up a lower-back injury during training.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Athapaththu (capt), 3 Hasini Perera, 4 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 5 Hansima Karunaratne, 6 Kavisha Dilhari, 7 Nilakshika de Silva, 8 Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), 9 Malki Madara, 10 Sugandika Kumari, 11 Kawya Kavindi/Chetana Vimukthi
Players to watch: Lauren Bell and Chamari Athapaththu
Lauren Bell has been in spectacular form all year, starting with the WPL where she finished with 12 wickets in nine games and was often a handful with the new ball. After picking three wickets in two games against New Zealand, she bagged seven wickets in three matches in the T20I series win against India. She's bowled at an economy of 7.4 this year, and the home conditions are likely to suit her perfectly.
"England are under a lot of pressure playing a home World Cup," says Veda Krishnamurthy
All eyes will once again be on Chamari Athapaththu for Sri Lanka. In what will be her 10th T20 World Cup the 36-year old will be expected to do the heavy lifting for her side. She heads into the tournament in excellent touch, highlighted by a blistering 94 off 58 balls in the warm-up against Pakistan. Her contributions with the ball could prove just as important - she picked up four wickets in three matches in the series against Bangladesh in May.
Weather and conditions
The forecast points to clear skies in Birmingham on Friday evening. There was however some rain in the area on the eve of the match.
Quotes
"We are coming in with the underdog tag because we need to earn something. But I know England have a little bit of pressure because they are playing in their home conditions and first game and a lot of expectation. We don't have that kind of pressure, so we just need to play our fearless cricket and if we can play our best cricket tomorrow, I know we can change and we can make history."
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu
"I'm sitting here feeling really proud and excited to be the leader of the team, but being part of the team as well. The drive and passion that everyone has to improve themselves and learn is putting us in a brilliant position. I'm really excited about tomorrow and what the tournament will bring."
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt
