Women’s T20 World Cup 2026: Ex-England women’s cricket players Kate Cross and Alex Hartley explained their stance on the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final schedule, which the International Cricket Council (ICC) favors Team India. The two former players, while appearing on their online podcast, explained that the ICC believes that the decision to have a pre-determined time slot and semi-final venue for the Indian team is to maximise global viewership. However, as they talked about the ICC’s reasoning, the two ex-cricketers also talked about receiving death threats and abuse following their video, where they accused the international body of favouring the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side.
Kate Cross and Alex Hartley accuse ICC of favouring the Indian team
Cross and Hartley, while appearing on their ‘No Balls’ podcast, talked about how India even knew their potential semifinal date before the start of the tournament in England. Cross mentioned that Harmanpreet Kaur’s team, if they moved forward, would definitely get to play the first semifinal on June 30 at 8:00 pm IST, a prime time slot for Indian TV viewers. This video was circulated widely before India’s virtual quarterfinal match against Australia scheduled for June 28, which India went on to lose and crashed out of the tournament.
Cross, former right-arm pacer, said, “Can we talk about the fact that I have seen today that if India qualify for the semis, they’re guaranteed to play in the Tuesday semifinal because the ICC thinks that it’s the best one for them to play in time-wise.”
ICC issues clarification; Kate Cross and Alex Hartley receive abuse and death threats
After their controversial assertion that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was favoring India by deciding the schedule of the Women’s T20 World Cup, Kate Cross and Alex Hartley have come forward with the confession that they had been receiving death threats and internet abuse. After that, the ICC made it clear that the schedule was not done to help any particular side.
What did ICC say about the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final schedule?
Hartley revealed in the latest podcast episode that she spoke with an ICC official to get some clarification about the scheduling after the misunderstanding first arose. She explained that instead of simply favoring India or any other team, the ICC believed that the timing of the two semifinals was done with the aim of targeting maximum viewership for fans in different parts of the world.
While talking about the ICC’s clarification, Hartley said, “I’ve actually spoken to somebody at the ICC to clarify everything that has been said. This is what the ICC said: ‘We’d like to clarify that this has nothing to do with India and that this has been done to optimise spectatorship in the UK as much as the global viewing.’ So, my interpretation of that is that the 6:30 start is for the UK audience.”
Kate Cross and Alex Hartley receive abuse and death threats
Both Kate Cross and Alex Hartley talked about how they have received abuses and death threats on social media since talking about the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final schedule. Cross talked about how their comments did not warrant the response they have been getting. She said, “I woke up this morning to 450 comments on that Instagram post about the ICC scheduling for the semifinals. Normally, we get around 30 comments per post. There’s been a little bit of confusion because what we said doesn’t warrant death threats and abuse.”
Pragun is a passionate cricket follower and writer who deeply loves the game. Having completed his education with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has an experience of almost two years in diverse fields. He is known for his statistical and analytical articles. Pragun tries to bring life to his articles by adding a layer of enthusiasm from the perspective of a hardcore fan. Apart from writing cricket articles, he sometimes appears on YouTube videos on a friend’s podcast.
