Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Match Times in the UK
Women T20 World Cup 202610 min read2,212 words
Every match at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 began at one of three times: 10:30, 14:30 or 18:30 British Summer Time. All five of England's group fixtures were placed in the evening slot at 18:30 BST, the first semi-final at The Oval on 30 June was a 14:30 start and the second on 2 July an 18:30 start, and the final at Lord's on Sunday 5 July was played in the afternoon. Because the whole tournament fell between 12 June and 5 July, every one of these Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match times in the UK was in BST — clocks in this country were an hour ahead of GMT throughout.
The tournament has been played, so what follows is the completed timetable rather than a forward schedule. It is still the quickest way to check when a given match was on, to work out what the England slot pattern was, and to convert any of it into another time zone.
The three daily slots and why they existed
The ICC built the programme around three fixed windows, which is standard for a tournament packing thirty-three matches into twenty-five match days across seven grounds.
- 10:30 BST — the morning slot, always the first half of a double-header, and generally used for fixtures between the sides outside the semi-final race.
- 14:30 BST — the afternoon slot, either a standalone match or the second half of a double-header.
- 18:30 BST — the evening slot, played under lights at the back end, and reserved almost entirely for the matches with the largest audiences.
That last one is the important pattern. England were given 18:30 for all five group games, which put every home fixture after the working day and after the school run, at a time of year when it stays light in Leeds until close to ten at night. A 6.30pm start in mid-June in England is played almost entirely in daylight, with the floodlights coming on for the second innings more as insurance than necessity.
Double-headers were the other structural feature. Where two matches shared a ground on one day, they ran 10:30 and 14:30, or 14:30 and 18:30, with roughly a ninety-minute gap between the close of one and the toss of the next.
England's five group matches, UK time
| Date | Start (BST) | Match | Ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 12 June | 18:30 | England v Sri Lanka | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| Tue 16 June | 18:30 | England v Ireland | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
| Sat 20 June | 18:30 | England v Scotland | Headingley, Leeds |
| Wed 24 June | 18:30 | England v West Indies | Lord's, London |
| Sat 27 June | 18:30 | England v New Zealand | The Oval, London |
England won all five and topped Group B on ten points. The opener at Edgbaston was an 87-run win with a total of 219 for 1; Ireland were held to 118 at Southampton with Sophie Ecclestone taking three; Scotland were beaten by 38 runs at Headingley; West Indies were beaten by 38 at Lord's, England making 186 for 7 against 148 for 5; and New Zealand, the defending champions, were beaten by nine wickets at The Oval in front of 21,018 people.
The full group-stage timetable
| Date | Start (BST) | Match | Ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 12 June | 18:30 | England v Sri Lanka | Edgbaston |
| Sat 13 June | 10:30 | Scotland v Ireland | Old Trafford |
| Sat 13 June | 14:30 | Australia v South Africa | Old Trafford |
| Sat 13 June | 18:30 | West Indies v New Zealand | Hampshire Bowl |
| Sun 14 June | 10:30 | Bangladesh v Netherlands | Edgbaston |
| Sun 14 June | 14:30 | India v Pakistan | Edgbaston |
| Tue 16 June | 14:30 | New Zealand v Sri Lanka | Hampshire Bowl |
| Tue 16 June | 18:30 | England v Ireland | Hampshire Bowl |
| Wed 17 June | 10:30 | Australia v Bangladesh | Headingley |
| Wed 17 June | 14:30 | India v Netherlands | Headingley |
| Wed 17 June | 18:30 | South Africa v Pakistan | Edgbaston |
| Thu 18 June | 18:30 | West Indies v Scotland | Headingley |
| Fri 19 June | 18:30 | New Zealand v Ireland | Hampshire Bowl |
| Sat 20 June | 10:30 | Australia v Netherlands | Hampshire Bowl |
| Sat 20 June | 14:30 | Pakistan v Bangladesh | Hampshire Bowl |
| Sat 20 June | 18:30 | England v Scotland | Headingley |
| Sun 21 June | 10:30 | West Indies v Sri Lanka | Bristol |
| Sun 21 June | 14:30 | South Africa v India | Old Trafford |
| Tue 23 June | 10:30 | New Zealand v Scotland | Bristol |
| Tue 23 June | 14:30 | Sri Lanka v Ireland | Bristol |
| Tue 23 June | 18:30 | Australia v Pakistan | Headingley |
| Wed 24 June | 18:30 | England v West Indies | Lord's |
| Thu 25 June | 14:30 | India v Bangladesh | Old Trafford |
| Thu 25 June | 18:30 | South Africa v Netherlands | Bristol |
| Fri 26 June | 18:30 | Sri Lanka v Scotland | Old Trafford |
| Sat 27 June | 10:30 | Pakistan v Netherlands | Bristol |
| Sat 27 June | 14:30 | West Indies v Ireland | Bristol |
| Sat 27 June | 18:30 | England v New Zealand | The Oval |
| Sun 28 June | 10:30 | South Africa v Bangladesh | Lord's |
| Sun 28 June | 14:30 | Australia v India | Lord's |
Thirty group matches, fifteen in each group of six. Group A was Australia, Bangladesh, India, the Netherlands, Pakistan and South Africa; Group B was England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. The ground details are covered on our Women's T20 World Cup 2026 England venues page.
Knockout times
The two semi-finals both went to The Oval, and they were deliberately given different slots two days apart.
Semi-final one started at 14:30 BST on Tuesday 30 June, when Australia beat the West Indies. Semi-final two started at 18:30 BST on Thursday 2 July, when England beat South Africa by 40 runs — 169 for 5 from Nat Sciver-Brunt's 75 and Heather Knight's 58, against 129 for 8 in reply, with Tazmin Brits making a lone fifty.
The final at Lord's on Sunday 5 July was an afternoon fixture. The ECB's published schedule listed a 14:30 BST start, match records give 15:30, and Sky's broadcast opened at 2:30pm — the sort of small discrepancy that appears when a start is adjusted for a closing ceremony and broadcast build-up, and worth checking against the official record if you need the exact minute. Australia chased 151 in 17.1 overs to win by seven wickets in front of 28,000, Beth Mooney making 64 from 49.
BST, GMT and the clocks
British Summer Time runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, so the entire tournament sat inside it. BST is UTC+1, which means every listed time was one hour ahead of GMT: a 10:30 BST start was 09:30 GMT, 14:30 was 13:30 GMT and 18:30 was 17:30 GMT.
This trips people up in one specific way. Scorecards, archives and international listings frequently record matches in UTC or GMT, so a fixture you watched at half past six in the evening will appear in some databases as 17:30. Nothing moved; the clock label did. If you are cross-referencing a record with an overseas source, add the hour back.
Sunset in England in the third week of June runs from about 21:20 in London to nearly 21:50 in Leeds, with usable light for another half hour after that. That is why an 18:30 start works here in June and would not in September.
Converting to other time zones
For anyone following from abroad, or checking against an away broadcast, the offsets from BST during the tournament were fixed:
| Region | Offset from BST | 18:30 BST becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland (IST) | same | 18:30 |
| Central Europe (CEST) | +1 | 19:30 |
| South Africa (SAST) | +1 | 19:30 |
| India (IST) | +4:30 | 23:00 |
| Australia east (AEST) | +9 | 03:30 next day |
| New Zealand (NZST) | +11 | 05:30 next day |
| US Eastern (EDT) | −5 | 13:30 |
| Caribbean (AST) | −4 | 14:30 |
The Australian and New Zealand numbers explain a lot about the tournament's overseas viewing pattern: an England evening game landed in the small hours on the eastern seaboard of Australia, while the 10:30 BST morning slot was a far more civilised 19:30 in Sydney.
How long a match actually took
A women's Twenty20 international is scheduled at roughly three and a quarter hours: two innings of twenty overs at about eighty-five minutes each, plus a short interval. A 10:30 start therefore finished around 13:45, a 14:30 start around 17:45, and an 18:30 start around 21:45.
Add time for slow over-rates, DRS reviews, drinks and any interruption. In practice an evening fixture that started on time was over between half past nine and ten. If you were travelling home by train from Headingley, Edgbaston or the Hampshire Bowl after an evening game, that put you at the station close to last-service territory on a weeknight — the single most common planning mistake supporters made all tournament.
Rain, delays and shortened matches
This is England in June, so weather planning was built into the schedule rather than bolted on. Group matches carried no reserve days; a washed-out fixture would have been declared a no-result with a point shared, exactly as in any ICC group stage. Both semi-finals and the final had reserve day provision, which is the standard protection for knockout cricket.
Where rain cut into playing time, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method applied and overs were reduced, with a five-over minimum per side for a T20 result to stand. Start times could be pushed back within the same day and the cut-off extended accordingly, which is why a listed 18:30 occasionally became a 19:15 toss. None of that changed the published slot; it changed when play actually began.
The wider timetable
Fixed slots, evening starts for the host nation and heavily protected knockout windows are now the default for major events in this country, and they are why crowds and audiences held up: 245,815 people through the gates, and around 15 million viewer hours on television. The coverage side is set out on our how to watch the Women's T20 World Cup 2026 in the UK page, and the sales process on the Women's T20 World Cup 2026 tickets in England guide.
For context on the teams and the structures behind them, see England women's cricket history, the Women's Ashes in England and women's domestic cricket in England. The men's edition earlier in 2026 is covered at the T20 World Cup 2026, and the broader picture at cricket in England and the England cricket hub.
Frequently asked questions
What time did Women's T20 World Cup 2026 matches start in the UK?
At 10:30, 14:30 or 18:30 BST. Those three fixed slots covered all thirty-three matches. Every England group fixture and the second semi-final used the 18:30 evening slot.
What time was the final at Lord's?
An afternoon start on Sunday 5 July 2026. The ECB schedule listed 14:30 BST and match records give 15:30, with Sky's broadcast beginning at 2:30pm — check the official scorecard if you need the precise figure. Australia won by seven wickets.
Were the times BST or GMT?
BST throughout, since the tournament ran from 12 June to 5 July and British Summer Time covers late March to late October. Subtract one hour for the GMT or UTC equivalent used in some international listings.
What time were the semi-finals?
Semi-final one at The Oval on Tuesday 30 June started at 14:30 BST; semi-final two at the same ground on Thursday 2 July started at 18:30 BST. England won the second to reach the final.
How long did each match last?
About three and a quarter hours including the innings break, so evening games generally finished between 21:30 and 22:00. Weather delays and slow over-rates pushed that later, which matters for anyone catching a last train.
Was there a reserve day if it rained?
For the knockouts, yes — both semi-finals and the final had reserve day provision. Group matches did not; a washout would have been a no-result with a point each, and shortened games were settled by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method with a five-over minimum per side.