The Cricketer provides all the information you need including how to follow the tournament, who the favourites are and where you can watch the matches
The seventh Women’s T20 World Cup, and the first to be held in Australia. Ten countries are split into two groups of five, with the top two from each group progressing to the semi-finals.
The tournament kicks off on Friday, February 21 with hosts Australia playing India and runs for just over two weeks with the final on Sunday, March 8. For a full list of fixtures click here.
The group stages of the World Cup will take place across four grounds – Sydney Showground, the WACA in Perth, the Manuka Oval in Canberra, and the Junction Oval in Melbourne. The iconic Sydney Cricket Ground will host both semi-finals before the finalists head to the Melbourne Cricket Ground where organisers hope they will be watched by a capacity 100,000 crowd.
Group A – Australia, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
Group B – England, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Thailand
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Australia are the heavy favourites and for good reason. They have only failed to reach the final of a T20 World Cup once, losing in the semi-finals in the inaugural 2009 competition, and they have won four of the five tournaments held since then.
A top order of Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy, and Meg Lanning has the potential to win games on its own, backed up by the top-ranked bowler in the world Megan Schutt and the ever-impressive Ellyse Perry.
The pre-tournament tri-series between Australia, India, and England was won by the hosts, but there were reasons to be optimistic for the two most likely challengers to Australia this World Cup.
England beat Australia in a Super Over before India beat them by seven wickets and pushed them close in a final they lost by only 11 runs. Opener Shafali Verma, just 16-years-old, smashed 49 off 28 in that win, and India will be relying on their batting lineup, primarily Smriti Mandhana, and their spin options, with the absence of a strong pace attack their main weakness.
India comfortably beat Australia in the group stages in 2018 and topped the group – for all their dominance in the latter stages of tournaments, Australia have only topped their group twice before. India are probably best placed in Group A to test the hosts, but their main priority will be ensuring they beat New Zealand to qualify for the semi-finals.
It’s been a familiarly painful story for England in previous T20 World Cups, losing to Australia in the final in three of the last four competitions.
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They will hope the arrival of Lisa Keightley as coach in her first major tournament with England will make a difference, and having been drawn in the easier of the two groups they will be expected to reach the semi-final as a minimum.
Amy Jones will have a crucial role to play as opener and wicketkeeper in a side that has won 13 of their last 17 T20 internationals and has a batting lineup with the ability to post big scores.
That Super Over win and a T20 victory over Australia in the Ashes last summer show they can compete against the favourites in this format, but doing it on the biggest stage is a hurdle they have yet to overcome.
New Zealand will need Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine to perform if they are to get out of their group – the pair have played in every one of the previous T20 World Cups.
The White Ferns were runners up in 2009 and 2010, but defeats in their first two matches of the 2018 competition knocked them out early on.
Their form in the format since then has been promising though, beating India 3-0 last year and a century from Devine helped them to a 3-1 series win over South Africa earlier this month. They will have to get off to fast start in the tournament, with their final match of the group against Australia.
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Viewers in the UK can watch the tournament in full on Sky Sports Cricket (Sky 404, Virgin 504, TalkTalk 405). In Australia, Fox Cricket will broadcast the World Cup alongside streaming service Kayo, with Channel Nine also providing coverage of all Australia's games, the semi-finals and the final.
New Zealand viewers can watch the tournament on Sky Sports NZ, while in India the coverage will be shown across the Star Sports Network, Doordarshan and streaming site Hotstar. Ten Sports and Hotstar will also broadcast the tournament in Sri Lanka.
PTV Sports and Ten Cricket will provide coverage in Pakistan, with Bangladesh viewers able to follow the tournament on BTV, GTV and Rabbitholebd.
Those in South Africa can watch matches across the Super Sport platforms, while ESPN will broadcast to those in the Caribbean.
Australia are the odds-on favourites at 4/7 with Dafabet to defend their crown and win their fifth T20 World Cup. England are fancied to meet them in the final and can be backed at 4/1 to win the tournament, with India available at 11/2.
New Zealand are 9/1 to claim their first title, while South Africa are 16/1. 2016 winners West Indies are 25/1 to repeat that success, ahead of Group B rivals Pakistan who have been set at 50/1.
Sri Lanka can be backed at 100/1, Bangladesh at 250/1, and Thailand, on their tournament debut, are 500/1 to provide one of the great sporting shocks.
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