The Women's T20 World Cup: Australia's 2026 title at Lord's, and every winner since 2009.

Status on 22 October 2026

The 2026 tournament is finished and Australia are the champions. They beat England by seven wickets in the final at Lord's on 5 July 2026, according to the ICC's report of the match.

The 2026 tournament

The ICC announced the plan on 1 May 2025: 12 teams and 33 matches, starting on 12 June 2026, at seven grounds in England and Wales: Lord's, Old Trafford, Headingley, Edgbaston, the Hampshire Bowl, The Oval and Bristol. The final was set for Lord's on Sunday 5 July 2026.

• Group stage: India went out before the semi-finals. Australia beat them by six wickets at Lord's (ICC highlights and news).
• First semi-final, The Oval: Australia beat West Indies by eight wickets. West Indies made 125 for 7 and Australia reached 127 for 2 in 13 overs, Beth Mooney finishing on 61 not out (ICC).
• Second semi-final: England, captained by Nat Sciver-Brunt, beat South Africa (ICC report; Outlook India).

The 2026 final

England batted first and made 150 for 4. Australia passed that with 153 for 3 in 17.1 overs. Beth Mooney made 64 from 49 balls, which the ICC and Gulf News describe as her third half-century in a T20 World Cup final.

The ICC's report adds several records and counts:

• It was Australia's seventh Women's T20 World Cup and, by the ICC's count, their 14th women's world title of any kind.
• It was the highest successful chase in a Women's T20 World Cup final.
• The ICC gave the crowd as more than 28,000, a record. MCC also records attendance records at Lord's during the event, for a group match and for the final.
• Australia were unbeaten through the tournament.

A route to the Olympics. The ICC said on 29 June 2026 that the 2026 tournament would decide the first four women's teams for cricket at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, as the highest-placed sides from Oceania, Europe, Asia and Africa: Australia, Great Britain (through England), India and South Africa. More on cricket at the Olympics.

The 2024 tournament, moved to the UAE

On 20 August 2024 the ICC moved the 2024 event out of Bangladesh, citing travel advisories issued by the governments of several competing teams. The Bangladesh Cricket Board kept the hosting rights, and the Emirates Cricket Board staged the matches in Dubai and Sharjah from 3 to 20 October 2024 (ICC release, through a search summary).

New Zealand beat South Africa by 32 runs in the final in Dubai on 20 October 2024, after making 158 for 5 (ICC match report). The ICC says it was New Zealand's first Women's T20 World Cup and their second major ICC women's title, after the 2000 Women's Cricket World Cup. Amelia Kerr, with 43 runs and 3 for 24 in the final, was Player of the Tournament (ICC, through a search summary).

The 2023 final

Australia beat the hosts South Africa by 19 runs in the final in Cape Town on 26 February 2023, scoring 156 to South Africa's 137 (ICC history article, 16 April 2026; cricket.com.au). Through a search summary of an ICC report: it was Australia's sixth title and their third in a row after 2018 and 2020, Beth Mooney (74 not out) was Player of the Match, and it was South Africa's first senior World Cup final.

Winners by year

2009 to 2024 from the ICC's "story of every Women's T20 World Cup" (16 April 2026); 2026 from the ICC's final report. That makes seven Australian titles, matching the ICC's 2026 count.

Where the event came from

• Women played T20 internationals before men. The first was England v New Zealand at Hove in August 2004, with Clare Connor captaining England (Sussex Cricket; 5 August per Wikipedia, secondary). The sources disagree on the margin: Sussex Cricket says England lost by 10 runs, Wikipedia says New Zealand won by nine runs. The first men's T20 international followed in 2005 (New Zealand Cricket).
• The ICC's 50th-anniversary release on the 1973 Women's World Cup links the launch of the Women's T20 World Cup in 2009 to that first tournament's influence.
• On 26 April 2018 the ICC gave international status to all T20 matches between its members' women's teams from 1 July 2018, with global women's T20I rankings from October 2018.
• The ICC renamed its World T20 as the T20 World Cup on 23 November 2018, from the 2020 events in Australia.

Rankings: the ICC's dated snapshot

In the ICC's annual update of 11 May 2026, the women's T20I table was led by Australia (287 rating points), England (275) and India (264). Rankings change after every series; this is that day's snapshot only.

Next ICC women's T20 event

On 26 July 2022 the ICC named Sri Lanka as host of the 2027 Women's T20 Champions Trophy, on condition that Sri Lanka qualify. See Champions Trophy. The ICC's broadcasters for the 2026 tournament are on watching cricket.