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ICC WOMEN'S T20 WORLD CUP 2026 REGISTERS BIGGEST-EVER OPENING WEEKEND

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Media release

  • Nearly 45,000 fans attend matches across the first three days in Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton
  • Digital reach in India highest for any league-stage match across all formats in women’s cricket.
  • UK viewership on Sky Sports for the opening day encounter between England & Sri Lanka becomes highest-ever for ICC Women's T20 World Cup matches
  • ICC's platforms register 150% growth in digital engagement, with more than 600 million views coming from ICC's Creator Programme (#t20creatorclub)

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 has got off to a record-breaking start with the opening weekend breaking attendance, viewing and engagement records across the United Kingdom (UK), India and the rest of the world.

A total of 44,844 fans attended games across the first three days of the tournament, a new record for the weekend of an ICC Women’s event.

The in-stadia figures exceeded the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup’s opening three-day attendance of 34,680 last year, underlining the record-breaking momentum behind the biggest-ever women’s cricket event. 

The milestone weekend was headlined by a sell-out crowd of 18,814 for India vs. Pakistan at Edgbaston, making it the highest-attended group-stage fixture in ICC Women’s World Cup history. The figure surpassed the 15,935 fans who watched India vs. Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. 

In India, JioStar’s digital coverage on JioHotstar has already delivered a cumulative live tournament reach of 215 million and 1.3 billion minutes of live watch time so far, with India’s win over Pakistan reaching 134 million viewers and generating 1.1 billion minutes of watch time alone. This is now the highest digital reach for any league-stage match across all formats in women’s cricket.

The record-breaking India vs. Pakistan match followed a standout opening night in Birmingham, where 14,865 supporters were wowed by the West End production of Wicked before Dani Wyatt-Hodge’s starring role inspired hosts England to victory over Sri Lanka. 

Sky Sports’ broadcast of the opening game registered a peak viewership of 510,000 and an average audience of 393,000. This is the broadcaster’s highest-ever average audience for a single game at an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. 

The record-breaking start has also manifested across ICC digital platforms. There have been more than 753 million video views across ICC content on social media, representing a near 150 percent increase on the same period of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. 

A further 617 million+ video views have been delivered by the ICC’s Content Creator Programme, which has seen dozens of social media stars flock to the United Kingdom to share the tournament with new and nuanced global audiences. Combined, those content creators have driven 30 million+ engagements. 

Across live streams on ICC.tv, there has been a 75 percent jump in both unique users and total watch time. And thanks to a dedicated partnership with YouTube to take the game into wider growth markets, there have been over 150,000 hours of watch-time generated on ICC's YT channel.

ICC Chief Executive, Sanjog Gupta, said: “This record-breaking start is a powerful reflection of the months of planning, collaboration and commitment from the ICC, the ECB, our broadcast partners and every stakeholder involved in delivering this event. To see that work translate into record attendances, landmark broadcast audiences and exceptional digital engagement in the opening weekend speaks to the momentum we managed to create for this marquee moment and also the growing power of the women’s cricket movement. 

“This is only the beginning. Our ambition for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 has always been to raise the bar for the women’s game, create a bigger stage for the world’s best players and deliver an event that reaches new fans, inspires future generations and leaves a lasting legacy for cricket in England and Wales and around the world.” 

Fans can continue to Catch the Spirit of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 by buying tickets at tickets.womens.t20worldcup.com, following the tournament across the ICC’s social media channels and watching all matches through global broadcast partners.