South Africa, Scotland triumphant in Women's T20WC warm-ups

The prelude to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 began on Saturday, with the first set of warm-up matches getting underway in Derby and Loughborough.

English weather made its presence felt on the very first day as both the South Africa-Ireland and the Netherlands-Scotland matches were delayed due to rain.

However, once the clouds cleared, both teams got some crucial preparation under their belt in the English conditions.

It was a composed performance by the Proteas as they defeated Ireland by 15 runs in their opening Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up match in Loughborough on Saturday.

With rain delaying the start of the match and reducing the contest to 18 overs, Ireland won the toss and elected to field first and exploit the early freshness in the wicket. However, an experienced South African batting line-up was up to the task.

Captain Laura Woolvardt gave the team a lift with a brisk 65 off 37 balls, with the help of seven fours and three sixes. While South Africa looked set to pile on a big total at one point, the innings lost momentum after the drinks break.

On resumption, they lost two quick wickets, of set batters Annerie Dercksen (26) and Woolvardt, within the space of three balls, grinding the momentum to a halt, restricting South Africa to 135/8.

For Ireland, medium-pacer Arlene Kelly was the most successful with 3/29 in three overs. Meanwhile, Cara Murray, who dismissed Dercksen and Woolvardt in the 14th over, and Ava Canning claimed two scalps each.

South Africa started the defence well, restricting Ireland to 37/3 in the PowerPlay. Though Leah Paul (29) and Rebecca Stokell (19) tried to take the attack to their opponents in a last-ditch effort, it proved too little too late as the European team finished at 120 in 17.4 overs.

Seasoned all-rounder Marizanne Kapp was the pick of the South Africa bowlers, claiming four wickets for just 24 runs in her quota of four overs.

Scotland kicked off their T20 World Cup preparations with a strong 58-run win over the Netherlands in the warm-up game in Derby.

After being put into bat by the Dutch, Scotland posted 163/5 on a lively wicket. While Darcey Carter (33 off 22 balls) at the top and an unbeaten 32 off 20 from Priyanaz Chatterji bookended their effort, with almost every batter contributing to their cause.

Ahead of what will be their maiden Women's T20 World Cup, the Dutch team experimented with nine bowlers against Scotland. Leg-break bowler Silver Siegers stood out with figures of 2/15 in three overs.

Chasing a competitive total, the Netherlands never really got going. They were 21/3 at the end of the powerplay and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. A spirited 29 not out from Frederique Overdijk helped them see out the innings but they could not mount a serious challenge.

Off-spinner Katherine Fraser was the pick of the Scotland bowlers, with 3/21 in four overs. She dismissed Phebe Molkenboer (25) and Iris Zwilling (2) in the 12th over to end any hopes of a fightback.

Meanwhile, the ICC has confirmed the global broadcast and streaming plans for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, ensuring extensive worldwide coverage for the biggest edition of the tournament yet.

They have announced that all the warm-up games will be broadcast live and free globally on ICC.tv and the ICC YouTube page.

The tournament being played in England and Wales, featuring 12 teams for the first time, begins on June 12 and concludes with the final on July 5.

As part of its effort to maximise accessibility, the ICC has expanded coverage across 14 languages and partnered with multiple free-to-air platforms around the world.

Speaking on which ICC CEO, Sanjog Gupta, said, “The audience base for Women’s Cricket received a major boost with millions discovering its appeal on the back of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025. The ICC’s endeavour is to build on that momentum with its world-class broadcast coverage spanning compelling player narratives and storylines, innovative production and immersive content features."

In addition to the main tournament, all official warm-up matches will also be available globally through TV and digital platforms. Details for the same can be found here.

In India, JioStar will bring the tournament to fans via Star Sports and JioHotstar. In addition to live English coverage of every match, JioStar will make Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada commentary available for all India matches, as well as the opening match of the tournament, along with semi-finals and the final.

India matches will also be supported by sign language to make coverage even more inclusive.

The live ‘made for mobile’ vertical feed will be made available in English and Hindi on JioHotstar for mobile-first audiences, alongside the multi-Cam feature, which gives viewers the option to experience the live match from a range of vantage points, including Hero, Stump, Battery, Field View and Multi-View.

Fans in the United Kingdom and Ireland can follow the action across Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports+, with digital streaming available on the Sky Sports app. All opening matches involving the home nations will be available free-to-air via Sky Mix, as will be the final.

In addition, all 12 home nations group matches plus the semi-finals and final will be available to watch on the Sky Sports app without a subscription, as well as the tournament opener being shown on YouTube. Sky Sports will also make Hindi commentary available for the semi-finals and the final.

For the fans in Australia, Prime Video has announced free coverage throughout the tournament, with no payment or subscription required.

Proteas fans will be able to catch all the action live on SuperSport’s TV and digital offerings in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a Xhosa commentary feed available for all South Africa matches.

Meanwhile, fans in New Zealand can follow the defending champions, White Ferns’, journey via SKY Sport’s linear and digital offerings.

In Pakistan, coverage will be delivered by PTV and Geo Super on linear TV and digitally on Myco, Tamasha and Tapmad. An ICC-produced Urdu commentary feed for Pakistan matches will also be broadcast on PTV Home and streamed by digital partners.

Fans across the United States and Canada can catch all the action for free on Willow Sports, available across all major FAST platforms. The tournament will also be available on Willow TV, Willow TV Canada and streamed by Cricbuzz via Willow.

Elsewhere, in the MENA region, the event will be available free-to-air on StarzPlay Cricket W via the StarzPlay app.

For fans in Sri Lanka, Dialog will showcase all matches on Dialog TV, ThePapare.com and the Dialog Play mobile app. Coverage will be further enhanced with all matches being made available in Sinhala. Coverage will also be extended on free-to-air television via TV Supreme, as well as on Sri Lanka Telecom-owned platform PEO TV.

In Bangladesh, viewers can catch all the action on Rabbithole and ICC.tv.

Further broadcasters include Digicel (Pacific Islands), Hub Sports 4 (Singapore) and Cricbuzz via its partnerships with Astro in Malaysia and PCCW in Hong Kong.

ESPN will broadcast all matches live in the Caribbean, while Disney+ will stream the event in Latin America.

In the Netherlands, public broadcaster NOS Player will celebrate the Dutch team’s participation in their first ever Women’s T20 World Cup by producing a Dutch-language feed for all matches featuring the Netherlands on its free-to-air streaming platform.

All remaining territories will be covered live and free on the ICC’s owned and operated streaming platform, ICC.tv. In addition to live match coverage, ICC.tv will feature multi-language commentary options, making commentary available in Hindi, Urdu and Dutch for certain matches

Select matches also streamed live on the ICC’s official YouTube channel and Facebook page in Japanese, Thai and Bahasa Indonesia.

In addition to live video coverage, world-feed audio commentary in English will be available globally via the ICC mobile app.

Radio coverage in the United Kingdom and Ireland will be provided by the BBC, while listeners in Australia can tune in to ABC.

Proteas’ ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Squad

Laura Wolvaardt (captain, Fidelity Titans), Tazmin Brits (DP World Lions), Nadine de Klerk (World Sports Betting Western Province), Annerie Dercksen (Garden Route Badgers), Shabnim Ismail (DP World Lions), Sinalo Jafta (DP World Lions), Marizanne Kapp (World Sports Betting Western Province), Ayabonga Khaka (DP World Lions), Suné Luus (Fidelity Titans), Karabo Meso (DP World Lions), Nonkululeko Mlaba (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Kayla Reyneke (World Sports Betting Western Province), Tumi Sekhukhune (DP World Lions), Chloé Tryon (DP World Lions) and Dané van Niekerk (World Sports Betting Western Province).

Management

Mandla Mashimbyi (Head coach), Sedibu Mohlaba (Team Manager), Dillon du Preez (Bowling Coach), Andrew Puttick (Batting Coach), Mduduzi Mbatha (Fielding Coach), Abram Ramoadi (Performance Analyst), Claire Terblanche (Coach), Dr Tshegofatso Gaetsewe (Team Doctor), Neline Hoffman-Kellerman (Physiotherapist), Tumi Masekela (Strength and Conditioning Coach), Happiness Mesi (Massage Therapist and Logistics), Dr Koketjo Tsebe (Team Psychologist), Lita Gqirana (Media Manager) and Zahid Shaik (Security Liason Officer).

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Groups

Group 1: Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Netherlands

Group 2: West Indies, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland

Proteas Fixtures - ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 (All times SAST)

Saturday, 13 June at 3.30pm - Old Trafford, Manchester

South Africa v Australia

Wednesday, 17 June at 7.30pm - Edgbaston, Birmingham

South Africa v Pakistan

Sunday, 21 June at 3.30pm - Old Trafford, Manchester

South Africa v India

Thursday, 25 June at 7.30pm - Bristol County Ground, Bristol

South Africa v Netherlands

Sunday, 28 June at 11.30am - Lord’s, London

South Africa v Bangladesh