admin On a blustery but thankfully dry Sunday, June 7, the 12 captains of teams in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2026 assembled on Waterloo Bridge, London.
The event was termed a carnival and was followed by a press conference in a less windswept venue nearby. There, for the purpose of two consecutive question-and-answer sessions, the captains were divided into the groups in which they will play their round-robin matches. The top two teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals.
A tournament of 12 teams is the most that the T20 World Cup has comprised. In the inaugural event in 2009, hosted in England and Wales, there were eight teams, a number that remained the same in 2010 and 2012, before expanding to 10 in the next six editions. In 2028, 12 teams will participate with Pakistan as the hosts. Ten teams will automatically qualify – the top eight placed teams in the 2026 edition, the host, if not already qualified and the next highest ranked side(s) as of July 6, 2026. A 10-team global qualifying system will generate the other two teams. Expansion to 16 teams is planned for 2030, reflecting the continuing growth and appeal of women’s cricket.
This theme was a feature of the captains’ responses at the press conference. Amelia Kerr, New Zealand’s captain and player of the match and tournament in their victorious 2024 World Cup campaign, spoke eloquently. She said that the 2024 win was special, in that two players, Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates, had been the inspiration for her when watching the 2010 T20 World Cup. Then, Australia narrowly defeated New Zealand by three runs in Barbados. Bates and Devine, now 38 and 36, respectively, are in the current squad. Kerr pointed out that when they made their debuts back in 2006, there was no salary. It was not until 2013 that New Zealand cricket was able to issue a limited number of central contracts.
At the other end of the scale, the Netherlands’ players do not have that luxury. Their captain, Babette de Leede, was engaging. When asked about the sacrifices that players have made, including giving up their jobs, to play for their country, she said that they were happy at their decisions.
De Leede made her debut in 2014, aged 15, when players had to pay for their own tours and trips. It was not until 2019-2020 that a full-time coach was appointed and the players started to receive match fees or travel costs. Now, there are some part-time contracts and match fees.
De Leede is excited about the Netherlands playing in the World Cup for the first time and for the Dutch supporters, who will not have far to travel. It seemed at one point that the team might not qualify, but a run of five victories in Nepal in a 10-team global qualifier tournament saw them edge fourth place behind Bangladesh, Ireland and Scotland.
The last two teams will also benefit from the fact that their supporters will not have far to travel. They will also revel in the opportunity to create an upset against England, in whose group they are placed, along with New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. Both the latter teams have experienced captains. Chamari Athapaththu made her debut for Sri Lanka in the 2009 T20 World Cup, aged 19. A batting-allrounder, she has been a leading light in Sri Lankan and women’s world cricket ever since.
This will be her 10th consecutive T20 World Cup. The squad is in transition, with good youngsters coming through structured development pathways. Recent results and preparations, which included playing against the Sri Lankan men’s U-19 team, have been encouraging. Athapaththu also commented on the huge growth curve that women’s cricket is currently experiencing.
Hayley Matthews made her international debut for the West Indies, aged 16, in a T20I match against New Zealand in 2014. Since then, she has been a key member of the team. This was illustrated in a match-winning innings of 66 runs from 45 deliveries in the 2016 T20 World Cup final in Kolkata against Australia. Matthews said that the domestic game has grown significantly since that victory, which broke Australia’s run of three consecutive titles. After that, Australia resumed its dominance with a further three consecutive titles, before New Zealand broke the chain in 2024.
Six titles out of a possible nine is a record of dominance and Australia will be determined to reestablish that status, especially after failing to reach the final in 2024. The team has a new captain, Sophie Molineux, following the retirement in March of Alyssa Healy, 16 years after her debut in 2010.
Molineux’s appointment as all-format captain surprised many observers, given her injury history. At the press conference, she said that she is on track to be fit, although she did not bowl or bat in a warm-up match against England on June 8. She also said that the squad is full of all-rounders, who provide options in English conditions.
Those conditions were remarked upon by other captains, particularly those from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. They emphasised the need to adapt as quickly as possible, both generally and in-game.
India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, made her international debut in 2009, one day before her 20th birthday in an ODI world cup match against Pakistan and then her T20 debut in the 2009 World Cup in England. Since then, she has been one of the most influential figures in Indian women’s cricket, following in the footsteps of her predecessors, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, as the game moved into professionalism. It was with some indignation that she fielded a question whether this could be her last World Cup. She asked the questioner why would he think so and, with a smile, asked if he wanted to stop his line of questioning. After leading India’s women to lift the ODI World Cup in November 2025, its first global trophy, one may deduce that she wishes to add to that success.
The beaten finalists in 2025 were South Africa’s women, who had also lost in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Laura Wolvaardt, who was captain on both occasions, half-jokingly thanked the compere for reminding her of those results. The memories of scoring a century in a losing cause last November may still be fresh. It is 10 years since she made her international debut, aged 16, scoring a century four months later that made her the youngest century-maker for South Africa, male or female, across all formats. Her run-scoring abilities will be much needed if her team is to progress from a group which contains India and Australia.
The stage is set to highlight the progress of women’s cricket, not just for the participating countries, but for those where women’s cricket is more established than the men’s game, such as Thailand, Brazil and Indonesia. The ICC’s CEO has remarked that women’s cricket “is becoming a socio-cultural movement that inspires the next generation.” This World Cup is a chance to prove it.
