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England Women’s team cricketers Kate Cross and Alex Hartley claim to have received abusive messages, including death threats, as they questioned the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) conditions for the semi-finals of the ongoing 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup.
A series of controversies sparked when the England national team cricketer Kate Cross raised the topic on a social media platform, questioning why the Council would prioritize a particular team in a multi-format tournament like the T20 World Cup.
ICC's playing conditions for the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals raise doubts
According to allegations made by Cross, the schedule for the tournament set by the Council appears to be contingent on a particular team reaching the semi-finals. According to the ICC’s playing conditions, the first-ranked team of Group A will face the second-ranked team of Group B, and the top-ranked team of Group B will take on the second-placed team of Group B.
But for the Indian Women’s cricket team, the conditions were different. As per ICC’s decision, if India qualified for the semi-finals, then they would be allowed to play in the first semi-final, irrespective of whether they finished first or second in their respective group.
However, Team India crashed out of the title race as they got defeated by the Australia Women’s cricket team in their final match of the group stage. From Group A, Australia and South Africa are the two teams which are qualified for the semi-finals.
England Cricketer Kate Cross called the ICC's decision ‘ridiculous’
Cross, the England cricketer, claimed that the arrangement made by the ICC, which seemed to be leaning towards a particular team, was ‘ridiculous’. Speaking on the latest episode of No Balls: The Cricket Podcast, Alex Hartley, the England Women’s team cricketer, claimed that they are witnessing a massive backlash against them, across social media platforms. While she made the comments, she also claimed to receive death threats and abusive messages online.
“We've been getting death threats and abuse online,” Hartley said in the podcast.
“I woke up this morning to post about the ICC scheduling for the semi-finals to 450 comments on that Instagram post. Normally, we will get 30 per post. There's been a little bit of confusion because what we said doesn't warrant death threats and abuse,” Cross said in the online interaction, in support of what Hartley claimed.
In clarification of her previous comments, Cross further mentioned that he did not say anything against the Indian cricket team.
“Like I wasn't slagging off India as a cricket team… I was just saying 'I don't think that any tournament should be based on a cricket team getting through a semi-final,” she added.
Alex Hartley approached an ICC official for clarifications
Alex Hartley, another England cricketer, mentioned that for further details about the semi-final playing conditions, she reached out to an ICC official, who stated that the playing conditions had nothing to do with India; the conditions were set because of the global viewership.
“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,” Alex Hartley stated.
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