ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Begins in England With 12 Teams Competing for Title From June 12 to July 5

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 begins today on June 12 in England, with the opening match between hosts England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in Birmingham, and the tournament runs all the way through to the final at Lord's in London on July 5, making this one of the longest and most expansive editions of the women's game's biggest competition that the sport has ever staged.

It is the biggest competition in women's cricket, twelve countries play across two groups, and the best two from each group make the semi-finals, and this year the whole thing ends at Lord's which is basically the home of cricket and the venue every cricketer dreams of playing at, and England is hosting it for the first time since the very first edition back in 2009 when the whole competition was barely getting started.

The twelve teams have been split into two groups of six, with Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands in Group A, while England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Scotland make up Group B, and the top two teams from each group go straight through to the semi-finals without any intermediate stage, which means every group game carries real weight from the very first day.

New Zealand are defending champions after winning in Dubai in 2024, Netherlands are playing at this level for the first time ever after qualifying through the global competition, and the India Pakistan game on June 14 in Bristol is the one that both sets of fans have had marked since the draw was announced.

The warm-up matches already threw up results worth noticing. England beat India by five runs in Cardiff and Australiabeat West Indies comfortably so when those teams meet again in the group stage there will be some scores to settle.

Sportscape feels that two hundred thousand tickets sold before the tournament started is the number that says everything about where women's cricket sits in 2026 nobody gave it that kind of support ten years ago, and the players who spent years performing at the highest level without getting anywhere near the recognition they deserved are the reason it is sitting here now with a Lord's final at the end of it and a country that is actually paying attention.