The ultimate of the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026 will likely be held at Lord’s on Sunday 5 July, it has been introduced.
Lord’s, which was additionally the venue for the thrilling ultimate of the ICC Ladies’s Cricket World Cup between England and India in 2017, is considered one of seven venues confirmed for the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026, alongside Outdated Trafford Cricket Floor, Headingley, Edgbaston, Hampshire Bowl, The Oval and Bristol County Floor.
The competitors will kick off on Friday, 12 June earlier than culminating at Lord’s, 33 fixtures and 24 days later, showcasing the most effective of the worldwide ladies’s sport and in search of to take ladies’s cricket into the mainstream.
Expanded competitors
An expanded competitors will see 12 groups descend on England and Wales to compete for the distinguished trophy that’s at the moment held by New Zealand.
The schedule of the match, which can see the groups competing in two teams adopted by a knockout stage, will likely be introduced in the end.
Eight international locations are already certain of their place, with the ultimate 4 contributors to be determined by a Ladies’s T20 World Cup Qualifier subsequent yr.
Internet hosting rights
England and Wales had been awarded internet hosting rights for the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026 in 2022, with the seven host venues chosen subsequently following analysis of varied standards.
The competitors will likely be formally launched at an occasion at Lord’s right this moment (Might 1), that includes a few of the largest names in British ladies’s sport, together with England Head Coach Charlotte Edwards, England stars Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell, and England rugby participant Ellie Kildunne.
It’s going to set out a imaginative and prescient for the match to be a sporting spectacle which might speed up equality in cricket and alter the sport for good, taking ladies’s cricket into the mainstream completely.
The Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) Chair Jay Shah and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Govt Richard Gould welcomed the affirmation of the venues.
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Defining second
ICC Chair Jay Shah stated: “The affirmation of venues represents a defining second as we construct in direction of the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026. This match will convey collectively the world’s best gamers in a celebration of ability, spirit and sportsmanship.
“The UK’s wealthy variety has at all times proven passionate help for all groups, one thing we witnessed so memorably at previous occasions.
“The sell-out Ladies’s Cricket World Cup ultimate at Lord’s in 2017 stays a landmark within the rise of the ladies’s sport, and I can not consider a extra becoming stage for the ultimate.
“As we flip our focus to getting ready for the match, we’re excited by the promise of thrilling T20 motion that won’t solely captivate followers right here but additionally function a showcase for cricket’s return on the Olympic stage in Los Angeles 2028.”
Vastly excited
ECB Chief Govt Officer Richard Gould stated: “We’re massively excited for the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026, and thrilled to have the ability to affirm the seven iconic venues that can host the match.
“It’s after all additional particular to announce that the ultimate will likely be going down at Lord’s. It is among the best venues in world cricket and each cricketer desires of being a part of events like a World Cup ultimate at Lord’s.
“This would be the largest ladies’s cricket occasion ever staged in England and Wales and is undoubtedly a chance to take the sport to extra folks than ever earlier than and welcome in new followers – younger and outdated.
“Crucially although this isn’t nearly scale, it’s about offering a world-class expertise for gamers, followers and broadcasters alike, making certain that the match displays the elite efficiency of the gamers on the pitch.
“We wish this competitors to be a part of a long-term motion, and never only a single second in time. This World Cup will develop a brand new era of followers who didn’t develop up with ladies’s cricket however won’t ever think about sport with out it.”
Co-Event Administrators
It has additionally been introduced that Director of Ladies’s Skilled Sport Beth Barrett-Wild and Director of Main Occasions Rob Hillman will act as Co-Event Administrators for the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2026.
The ICC’s world ladies’s occasions have been rising for the reason that ICC Ladies’s Cricket World Cup 2017 with elevated attendances at venues and extra viewership throughout broadcast and digital platforms.
The ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup 2020 ultimate between Australia and India in Melbourne noticed a report 86,174 spectators in attendance whereas the finals of the next T20 World Cups in Cape City (2023) and Dubai (2024) had been additionally offered out in markets the place ladies’s cricket had by no means been ticketed earlier than.
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