Danni Wyatt welcomes England competition – even from bridesmaid Sophia Dunkley

Danni Wyatt has welcomed the competition for places in the England squad after the recall of her bridesmaid Sophia Dunkley for the upcoming white-ball series with New Zealand.

England play the first of three ODIs in Durham on Wednesday before five T20s against the White Ferns in July.

Wyatt featured in five of the six matches with Pakistan earlier this summer and smashed 87 in Leeds last month, while fellow batter Dunkley is back in the set-up for both formats after a string of impressive domestic scores.

Wyatt said: “She is one of my good mates, Dunks. One of my bridesmaids actually for my wedding, so really happy for her.

“She has really got her head down, worked really hard and batted really well for her domestic team. I am sure she is chomping at the bit to get a chance in this series and I’m really delighted she is back.

“That is what we want. We want competition for places in the squad to keep pushing us, so I am sure everyone will get their head down, focus on themselves and do their best for the team if they get a chance.”

England faced New Zealand during the spring and recorded an impressive 4-1 T20 series victory before they edged out the hosts in three ODIs 2-1.

The T20 World Cup takes place later this year in Bangladesh, but Wyatt insisted they would treat the 50-over matches during the next week with the utmost respect.

“There is a real buzz around the group at the minute and we can’t wait to get going on Wednesday,” Wyatt added.

“It’s still white-ball cricket, so for me, I’ll still play my natural game and, if the ball is there, I’ll try and hit it.

“We want to focus on winning the ODI series and we’ve seen how good New Zealand are as a team having recently just played them.

“Ultimately we want to win this series, play at our best and then focus on the T20 series with an eye on Bangladesh coming up. Yeah, lots of exciting cricket coming up.”

It has also been a memorable time off the field for Wyatt after she married long-term partner Georgie Hodge earlier this month ahead of a bigger event planned for August.

Wyatt said: “It was so lovely.

“That was the small registry wedding and the big day is in August in France. It was a nice warm-up ready for the big day.

“Even on Saturday when I was playing for (Southern) Vipers, everyone in the crowd said congrats. It’s so nice. That is what you get for putting it all over Instagram!”