I watched the thrilling conclusion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on February 26th where Australia clinched victory over South Africa by 19 runs. I’m now looking forward to the next tournament in September 2024.
In a hurry? If you are in the US, you don’t have many options. But you do have one great option: Sling TV. Sling Orange is $40.00/month and with the World Sports Mini add-on for $5/mo, you get both the Willow TV channels, which gives you all the cricket action. And you also get 3 beIN Sports and Premiere channels for a ton of soccer.
You can also just get World Sports alone for just $10/mo. It offers the same channels as in the Mini add-on for the same price as getting Willow TV by itself.
Table Of Contents
Many cricket fans appreciate and enjoy the longevity and test of endurance that Test matches provide. But those five-day matchups also test the endurance of the viewer. An increasing number of people are preferring shorter games.
As a result, One Day Internationals (ODIs), which last around eight hours, were created in 1971. However, many were not satisfied with those either.
That led to the even-shorter Twenty20 (T20) version of the sport, which was invented in 2003. Those games consist of 20 overs instead of the 50 for ODIs and last around three hours.
That is the sweet spot for many fans, not only long-time cricket aficionados but also those new to the sport. Some of the ones in the latter group are Americans, and cricket officials are hoping that three-hour matches will help this sport start to gain a foothold in the US sporting culture.
History of the Women’s T20 World Cup
It took just a few years before the exploding interest in this version of cricket resulted in the creation of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The inaugural edition was hosted by England, where cricket was invented.
This event, played in 2009, resulted in the English side pleasing their home fans by going undefeated in a run to the title. England defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the final, which was played in front of 12,717 at London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground.
However, the dynasty of this sport has turned out to be neither of those teams. Australia, who lost to New Zealand in the group stage and fell short of England in the semifinals in 2009, responded to those setbacks by lifting the trophy a year later and again in 2012 and 2014 to complete a three-peat.
After the West Indies broke through with a stunning win over Australia in the 2016 final, the Aussies resumed dominating the sport, claiming the World Cup in 2018 and 2020.
Record Crowd
The 2020 final was a historic affair for another reason as a crowd of 86,174 attended the final, which was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
That is the largest attendance at a women’s cricket match played in any form of the sport, and the largest to attend a T20 World Cup final of either gender. It’s also the largest to attend any women’s sporting event held in Australia.
2023 Women’s T20 World Cup
The Women’s T20 World Cup has been scheduled for every two years ever since the second one, held in 2010, took place just one year after the inaugural edition. However, one bump in that plan occurred with the previously scheduled competition in 2022. As a result, it needed to be moved from November of that year to Feb 9th through 26th in 2023. South Africa remains its host.
Teams that have been selected to participate in 2023 include Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and West Indies. All these teams qualified through their showing at the last Women’s T20 World Cup.
South Africa attained a spot by virtue of hosting. The event will be held in three locations: Cape Town, Gqeberha, and Paarl.
Two more squads will complete the 10-team field after finishing in the top two at a qualifier being played in 2022. Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, USA, and Zimbabwe will compete there.
The top players will be on hand, including batters Tahlia McGrath (Australia), Smriti Mandhana (India), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Meg Lanning (Australia), Ashleigh Gardner (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Shafali Verma (India), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), and Alyssa Healy (Astralia).
Bowlers include Sophie Ecclestone (England), Deepti Sharma (India), Nonkululeko Mlaba (South Africa), Sarah Glenn (England), Megan Schutt (Australia), Katherine Brunt (England), Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand), Shabnim Ismail (South Africa), and Hayley Matthews (West Indies).
2023 Women’s T20 WC Schedule
Semifinals and final:
- Thu Feb 23 : SEMIFINALS #1 Australia (172/4) vs India (167/8)
- Fri Feb 24 : SEMIFINALS #2 England (158/8) vs South Africa (164/4)
- Sun Feb 26 : FINALS South Africa (137/6) vs Australia (156/6)
The Future
The Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024 will also be a 10-team affair, while 12 countries will take part in the 2026, 2028, and 2030 competitions.
Women’s T20 World Cup Channels
Willow and Willow Xtra are the channels that broadcast ICC events in the US, including the T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Additionally, fans situated north of the border can watch the games on Willow Canada.
Those across the Atlantic Ocean in the historic home of cricket, England, will be able to view games on Sky Sports, which broadcasts throughout the British Isles. Streamers should check out NOW TV.
Sky also handles the broadcasting of games in New Zealand. But those in Australia will instead need to head to Fox Sports to watch their powerhouse team attempt to claim yet another trophy.
Star Sports owns broadcasting rights in some countries where interest in cricket is especially high. This is particularly true of India and Bangladesh. South Africans can catch T20 World Cup games on SuperSport.
Streaming the Women’s T20 World Cup
What you need to do to stream the T20 Women’s World Cup depends on where you are located. Those in the US interested in watching this event have two options.
Sling TV
You could simply get Willow and Willow Xtra through Sling TV for $10/mo or $60/yr, or you could combine those channels with several others, sometimes also at a monthly rate of $10.
One example of the latter is its World Sports plan, which also includes three beIN Sports channels and Premiere, a Brazilian soccer-focus channel. Another is its Urdu pack, which includes those same channels minus Premiere but adding 14 general-interest networks, such as Geo TV and ARY News.
(Note that Sling offers numerous channels with focuses on different languages common to India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, including Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi.)
If you simply want a comprehensive multichannel plan, consider getting the Sling Orange plan, which costs $40.00/month. This will give you 30-40+ channels as well as the World Sports channels for just $5/mo more.
Including the aforementioned choices, you have 19 Sling TV package deals to choose from that include Willow and Willow Xtra.
See our Sling T20 Women’s World Cup Guide for more information.
Willow
Willow provides a way to subscribe directly to it to watch Willow and Willow Extra for $9.99/mo. If you are willing to pay by the year, the cost goes down to an average of $5/mo for an upfront cost of $60.
With that said, make sure to also consider getting access to those channels through Sling. It offers several deals that may be of greater interest to you.
ESPN+
ESPN+ ($10.99/month) has steadily increased its sports offerings over the years, and this has included its coverage of international sports. Soccer competitions, such as the Bundesliga and La Liga, have been a focus. But cricket events have also been added to that list as of late. In fact, all Cricket World Cups, men’s and women’s T20 and men’s and women’s the ODI versions and the T20 events, may now be streamed through ESPN+.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy watching US-based sports events such as NFL games, NHL matchups, and college sports and want to combine that with enjoying international sports, ESPN+ may be just what you are looking for.
If you do decide to go with ESPN+, consider getting Hulu + Live TV ($82.99/month), an expansive multichannel streaming service, which includes access to all of those channels, to ESPN+, and to Disney+ in its base rate.
Streaming From Outside the US
However, if you are outside of the US, you are going to need to stream games another way. How depends on where you will be located when these contests are being played.
Those north of the border need to take advantage of Hotstar’s offerings to watch the Women’s T20 World Cup. If you are in the British Isles, your options are Sky Go and NOW TV.
Fans in India will, like Canadians, need to use Hotstar while many others in that region (eg, those in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) must use Yupp TV’s services.
Down Under, Aussies can stream games through Foxtel GO and Kayo Sports while New Zealanders can do so through Sky Sport Now.
Devices to Live Stream the T20 Women’s World Cup
All the streaming services we’ve discussed support most TVs and devices in use today:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android mobile
- Android TV
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
- iOS (iPhone,iPad)
- Roku
- Samsung smart TVs
- Xbox One
- Web browsers.
ESPN+ and Sling also work with the Oculus. The PlayStation works ESPN+ (version 4) and Hulu (versions 3, 4, and 5). LG smart TVs work with Hulu and Sling. There are other less popular devices that can be used.
Summing Up
The Women’s T20 World Cup is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports events. Interest in it is increasing at a tremendous pace as a result, both in cricket hotbeds and in growing areas, such as the US.
Those based in the latter country can watch all the action through Willow ($9.99/m) or ESPN+ ($10.99/month). Cord cutters elsewhere generally have other options to do the same, particularly those in cricket hotbeds.
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My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.
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