2026 Women's T20 World Cup
Tenth edition of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup is the tenth edition of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup and is being hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board from 12 June to 5 July 2026. England had previously hosted the inaugural competition in 2009. A total of twelve teams are competing in 33 matches across seven venues in England.
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| Dates | 12 June – 5 July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Administrator | International Cricket Council |
| Cricket format | Women's Twenty20 International |
| Tournament format(s) | Group stage and knockout stage |
| Host | England |
| Participants | 12 |
| Matches | 33 |
| Official website | icc-cricket.com |
The number of participants was increased from ten teams to twelve, which included a host team, top five teams from the previous edition, the two highest-ranked teams in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings not already qualified, and four other teams determined through a series of qualifiers. Netherlands qualified for the Women's T20 World Cup for the first time.
New Zealand are the defending champions, having won the 2024 edition.
Background
The ICC Women's T20 World Cup is a biennial world cup for women's cricket in Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was first played in 2009 in England, and the 2026 tournament marked its tenth edition.[1] The ninth edition, held in 2024 in the United Arab Emirates, was contested by 10 teams, and was won by New Zealand, who defeated South Africa in the final.[2]
Host selection
In July 2022, as part of the 2024–2027 ICC women's hosts cycle, the ICC announced that the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup would be played in England. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had previously hosted the inaugural competition in 2009.[3][4]
Format
The 12 qualifying teams are divided into two groups of six teams each. In the group stage, each team will play every other team in its group once in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, which will consist of two semi-finals, with the winners facing off in the final.[5][6][7]
Schedule
In the 2025–2029 ICC Women's Future Tours Programme, the tournament was scheduled to be held in June–July 2026.[8] The ICC announced the tournament schedule on 24 February 2026, with the tournament scheduled to take place from 12 June to 5 July 2026. The teams will play 33 matches across seven venues in England.[9] On 10 July 2025, the ICC announced that warm-up matches would be played at two venues in England and one in Wales.[10][11] Full list of warm-up fixtures were revealed on 13 May 2026.[12]
Prize money
The ICC allocated a pool of $8.76 million in prize money for the tournament, a 10% increase from 2024. The winners would be given at least $2.34 million, with each team receiving an additional $31,154 for each match they won, excluding the semi-finals and final.[13][14][7]
| Place | Teams | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| per side | Total | ||
| Champions | 1 | $2.34 million | $2.34 million |
| Runners-up | 1 | $1.17 million | $1.17 million |
| Semi-finalists | 2 | $675,000 | $1.35 million |
| 5th–8th place (Group stage) | 4 | TBA | |
| 9th–12th place (Group stage) | 4 | TBA | |
| Match winners | 30 | $31,154 | $934,620 |
| Total | 12 | $8.76 million | |
Marketing
On 27 May 2026, the ICC announced that the opening ceremony for the tournament would be held on 12 June ahead of the opening match at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.[16][17] The ceremony featured Emma Kingston and Zizi Strallen who portrayed Elphaba and Glinda along with the full cast from the British production of the musical Wicked performing in a lively erected set marking the 20th anniversary of the musical's British iteration.[18][19] A promotional event "Captains' Carnival", featuring all the team captains was held on 7 June at the Waterloo Bridge in London.[20][21]
Qualification
The host team England,[22] along with the top five teams from the 2024 tournament: Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies; directly qualified for the 2026 tournament. The remaining two direct qualification places were allocated to the next best-ranked teams in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings as on 20 October 2024, that had not finished in the top six: Pakistan and Sri Lanka.[23] The four remaining places were filled through the global qualifier in February 2026: Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland.[24][25] Netherlands qualified for the women's T20 World Cup for the first time.[26]
| Method of qualification | No. of teams | Teams | WT20I ranking[a] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Host | 1 |  England | 2 |
| 2024 Women's T20 World Cup (Top 5 teams from the previous tournament, excluding hosts) | 5 |  Australia | 1 |
 India | 3 | ||
 New Zealand | 4 | ||
 South Africa | 5 | ||
 West Indies | 7 | ||
| ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings | 2 |  Pakistan | 8 |
 Sri Lanka | 6 | ||
| 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier | 4 |  Bangladesh | 10 |
 Ireland | 9 | ||
 Netherlands | 14 | ||
 Scotland | 11 | ||
| Total | 12 |
- The ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings as of 11 June 2026, before the start of the tournament.[27]
Venues
In May 2025, the ECB confirmed the seven venues for the World Cup: Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham, County Ground in Bristol, Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds, Lord's and The Oval in London, Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester and Rose Bowl in Southampton.[28][29][7]
| Venues in England | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | Bristol | Leeds | London |
| Edgbaston Cricket Ground | County Ground | Headingley Cricket Ground | Lord's |
| Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 17,500 | Capacity: 18,350 | Capacity: 31,100 |
| Matches: 4 | Matches: 6 | Matches: 5 | Matches: 4 (Final) |
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| London | Manchester | Southampton | |
| The Oval | Old Trafford Cricket Ground | Rose Bowl | |
| Capacity: 27,500 | Capacity: 26,000 | Capacity: 25,000 | |
| Matches: 3 (Semi-finals) | Matches: 5 | Matches: 6 | |
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Squads
Each team is allowed a maximum squad size of 15 players and are required to submit the provisional squad to the ICC by 1 May 2026. The teams were allowed to make changes to the squads until June 2026. Any changes after this would require permission from the ICC's technical committee.[citation needed]
Match officials
On 28 May 2026, the ICC released the list of match referees and umpires for the tournament.[30] On 21 June 2026, Lauren Agenbag was ruled out of the tournament due to illness and was replaced by Saleema Imtiaz.[31]
- Match referees
- Umpires
Warm-up matches
A total of 12 warm-up matches were played from 6 to 10 June, involving all 12 teams participating in the World Cup across two venues in England: County Cricket Ground in Derby and Haslegrave Ground in Loughborough and one venue in Wales at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.[10][11][12]
Warm-up matches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Group stage
The ICC announced the groups and fixtures on 24 February 2026, with group stage played from 12 to 28 June.[9] The 12 teams were divided into two groups of six with each team facing the other teams in the group once. The group stage featured a total of 30 matches.[5] The opening match was played between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston on 12 June.[6]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4.724 | Advance to the Knockout stage |
| 2 | India |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2.511 | |
| 3 | South Africa |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −0.546 | |
| 4 | Bangladesh |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −0.641 | |
| 5 | Pakistan (E) |
4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | −2.831 | |
| 6 | Netherlands (E) |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | −3.384 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Wins; 3) Net run rate; 4) Results of games between tied teams; 5) WT20I Rankings ahead of the tournament[6]
(E) Eliminated
v |
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- Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- India won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- Australia won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- India won the toss and elected to bat.
- Harmanpreet Kaur (Ind) played in her 200th T20I.[35]
- Prema Rawat (Ind) made her T20I debut.
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- Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England (H, A) |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2.342 | Advance to the Knockout stage |
| 2 | West Indies |
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0.008 | |
| 3 | New Zealand |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0.122 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | −0.973 | |
| 5 | Scotland (E) |
4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | −0.236 | |
| 6 | Ireland (E) |
4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | −1.277 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Wins; 3) Net run rate; 4) Results of games between tied teams; 5) WT20I Rankings ahead of the tournament[6]
(A) Advances to a further round; (E) Eliminated; (H) Hosts
v |
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- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
- This was the highest innings total in the T20 World Cup.[37]
v |
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
- Scotland recorded their first win in the T20 World Cup.
v |
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- West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- England won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- New Zealand won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
v |
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- West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
Knockout stage
The knockout stage will consist of two semi-finals played on 30 June and 2 July, and the final on 5 July.[5] The semi-finals will be played at The Oval with the final at Lord's. If India qualifies, they will play in the semi-final 1. Otherwise, group A winner and group B runner-up will play in semi-final 1 and group B winner and Group A runner-up will play in semi-final 2.[6]
Both semi-finals and the final have a reserve day available on 1, 3, and 6 July respectively. If a reserve day had come into play, the match would not have been restarted but instead resumed from the previous day's play, if there was any; with the play commencing at 14:30 (UTC+01).[6][7] In the event of no minimum play (at least 10 overs per side) on the scheduled day and the reserve day, in the semi-finals, the team that finished higher in the group stage would progress to the final, and if no play were possible in the final, the teams would be declared as joint-winners.[6][7]
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| A1 |  TBA
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| B2 | TBA
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| SF1W | TBA
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| SF2W | TBA
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| B1 | England
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| A2 | TBA
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Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
| Runs | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 193 | Danni Wyatt-Hodge | England |
| 174 | Darcey Carter | Scotland |
| 159 | Smriti Mandhana | India |
| 150 | Shemaine Campbelle | West Indies |
| 139 | Chamari Athapaththu | Sri Lanka |
| Wickets | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Shree Charani | India |
| 8 | Sophie Ecclestone | England |
| Hayley Matthews | West Indies | |
| Aaliyah Alleyne | West Indies | |
| Fatima Sana | Pakistan | |
Broadcasting
The global broadcasters for the tournament were confirmed by the ICC on 6 June 2026.[41][42] The matches were broadcast worldwide in 14 languages.[41] The matches were also broadcast through ICC.tv and the ICC's official YouTube channel.[43] JioHotstar provided a vertical live feed along with multi-camera features.[41]
| Region | Country/Sub-region | Broadcasting licensee(s) | Broadcasting platforms | Radio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | Middle East and North Africa | Starz | StarzPlay | N/a |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | SuperSport | SS Cricket & SuperSport | ||
| Americas | Canada | Willow | Willow TV & Cricbuzz | N/a |
| Caribbean Islands | ESPN | ESPN Caribbean & Disney+ | ||
| United States | Willow | Willow TV & Cricbuzz | ||
| Asia | Bangladesh | TSM | Rabbithole & ICC.tv | N/a |
| Hong Kong | PCCW | Cricbuzz & ICC.tv | ||
| India | JioStar | Star Sports & JioHotstar | ||
| Malaysia | Astro | Cricbuzz, Astro Go, Sooka & ICC.tv | ||
| Pakistan | PTV & Myco | PTV Sports & Geo Super Myco, Tamasha, ARY ZAP & Tapmad | ||
| Pacific Islands | Digicel | Digicel | ||
| Singapore | StarHub | Hub Sports 4 & StarHub app | ||
| Sri Lanka | Dialog TV | Dialog Play, Peo TV, ThePapare, TV Supreme & Star Sports | ||
| Europe | Ireland | Sky Sports | Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Go & Sky Sports Mix | N/a |
| Netherlands | NOS | NOS & ICC.tv | ||
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports | Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Go & Sky Sports Mix | BBC Radio | |
| Oceania | Australia | Amazon | Prime Video | ABC Radio |
| New Zealand | Sky TV NZ | Sky Sport, Sky Sport Now & Sky Go | N/a | |
| Rest of the world | International Cricket Council | ICC.tv & YouTube | ICC app | |
Commentators
The ICC released the following list of commentators for the tournament on 8 June 2026.[44]
- Ian Bishop
- Carlos Brathwaite
- Anjum Chopra
- Charles Dagnall
- Simon Doull
- Tash Farrant
- Natalie Germanos
- Isa Guha
- Matthew Hayden
- Nasser Hussain
- Mel Jones
- Isobel Joyce
- Raunak Kapoor
- Dinesh Karthik
- Stacy-Ann King
- Veda Krishnamurthy
- Katey Martin
- Laura McGoldrick
- Sana Mir
- Alison Mitchell
- Kass Naidoo
- Julia Price
- Ebony Rainford-Brent
- Mithali Raj
- Jatin Sapru
- Ian Smith
- Alan Wilkins
