Last Updated on 2 hours ago by Charbel Coorey
The upcoming edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup is set to be the best ever. That is according to tournament director Beth Barrett-Wild, who believes a number of teams are capable of taking out the title on July 5th.
In an exclusive interview with Tawhid Qureshi for CricBlog at the launch of the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup at Waterloo Bridge, Barrett-Wild shared her thoughts on having a tournament at the same time as the Men’s FIFA World Cup. She also revealed ticket sales are healthy, and hopes for record-breaking viewership.
Beth Barrett-Wild: This World Cup is going to be the most competitive, high-quality Women’s Cricket World Cup we’ve ever seen
Below is the audio and transcript of our interview with Beth Barrett-Wild.
Q: This event [Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 launch at Waterloo Bridge] is about kind of creating a bit of a buzz. What, what’s the idea behind it for you?
Beth Barrett-Wild: “So this is our tournament launch event. We’re five days to go now until that opening fixture up at Edgbaston on the 12th of June, and our ambition for this tournament is to break women’s cricket into the mainstream. That is all about scale and status. So the opportunity to take over a bridge – Waterloo Bridge – right in the heart of London, a bridge that was built and designed by women during World War II. So some symbolism there really just demonstrates the scale of that ambition and really showcases how we want this to be an iconic event for women’s cricket.”
Q: Women’s cricket’s always kind of fighting for attention, fighting for eyeballs. You’re kind of competing against the men’s [football] World Cup. We know obviously there’s a Test match [England vs New Zealand] going on, or it’s just finished just a few miles down the road. Does it kind of frustrate you, or is it still a challenge for you to try kind of push things forward?
Beth Barrett-Wild: “Yeah, there is a lot of sport this summer. I think with the men’s FIFA Football World Cup, we’re well aware that the two coexist, but we’re really seeing that as an opportunity in terms of riffing off that scale. I think the important thing around this World Cup, with it being a standalone women’s event, is it gives us the opportunity to really showcase women’s cricket at its brilliant best.
“And ticket sales are in a really positive place. We’ve got big ticket ambitions, attendance ambitions. So we’ve just broken through 200,000 tickets. We’re looking to get to around 250,000-270,000 attendees this summer, and record-breaking viewership. We’ve seen the impacts that the Women’s 50-over Cricket World Cup had in India just before Christmas. So we’re coming off the back of that. So I think we have an unprecedented opportunity actually to make the most of this summer and really to shift how people think and feel and behave around women’s cricket long term.”
Q: What you’re hoping for is that once the tournament actually starts, things start to snowball, interest starts to kind of generate more interest?
Beth Barrett-Wild: “Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s a lot of what today’s all about actually. Start with a big bang in terms in terms of that tournament launch, just five days to go until that opening fixture up at Edgbaston. The announcement earlier this week about Wicked being the opening performance and act of that tournament opener. So yeah, I think as soon as the tournament starts, we very much hope that momentum will catch fire, but we’re already in a brilliant place.”
Q: As tournament director, you’re kind of neutral in terms of who might win and who might do well, but I’m guessing you want England to kind of do as well as they can?
Beth Barrett-Wild: “Yeah, of course. I think this World Cup is going to be the most competitive, high-quality Women’s Cricket World Cup we’ve ever seen. I think we’re coming into it with real jeopardy. So we’ve got New Zealand as the current champions, got India as the 50-over world champions, Australia not in a global champion position for the first time in a long time. So they’re going to come out firing. South Africa on the rise, England on home soil. I genuinely think across all 12 of those teams, it’s going to be a very open tournament. And I don’t know who’s going to be in the final on the 5th of July, which is really, really exciting.”
