The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has asked its members to attend the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 final at Lord’s on Sunday, July 5, no matter which teams qualify for the title match.
The request comes before the second semi-final between England and South Africa at The Oval on Thursday, July 2. Australia have already reached the final after beating West Indies by eight wickets in the first semi-final on Tuesday, June 30.
MCC chief executive and secretary Robert Lawson sent a letter to club members on Wednesday, July 1, asking them to support the final and help avoid a repeat of what happened during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final in 2017.
That final saw around 24,000 fans attend Lord’s to watch England beat India by nine runs in a thrilling match. While the public stands were full, the members-only Pavilion areas had many empty seats. The empty sections received a lot of criticism from both the media and MCC members.
The issue has become even more important in recent years. During an MCC Special General Meeting in July 2025, club officials discussed ticket arrangements for this tournament. They accepted that if something similar happened again during this year’s World Cup final, it could seriously damage the club’s reputation.
MCC has also faced criticism over its support for women’s cricket. In 2023, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) published a report that criticized the club. One of its strongest comments said, “The ‘home of cricket’ is still a home principally for men.”
Women were only allowed to become MCC members in 1998, even though the club was founded in 1787. Today, MCC has around 18,350 full members, but fewer than 3% of them are women.
The ICEC report also called it “truly appalling” that England Women had never played a Test match at Lord’s. That will finally change next week when England host India in a historic women’s Test at the famous ground.
Because of this background, MCC is hoping to see a full Pavilion during Sunday’s Women’s T20 World Cup final.
In his letter, Lawson wrote:
“On Sunday, we have the honour of hosting the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final. Yesterday’s semi-final saw Australia continue their dominant run and we look forward to welcoming them to Lord’s this weekend. Tomorrow evening, we will find out which of England or South Africa will join them.
“We can expect a very high-quality match this Sunday. I ask that you show your continued support for the game and for your Club by using your ticket(s) and coming to the match, regardless of which teams have made it to the Final.
“It is vital to MCC’s reputation that there is no repeat of the situation which occurred at the ICC Women’s World Cup Final at Lord’s in 2017, when there was a clear disparity between the Public Stands (visibly full) and the sparsely occupied Pavilion. That same principle applies to the Members’ Friends’ Enclosures.”
Lawson also asked members who cannot attend to let the club know so their seats can be used by someone else.
He wrote:
“If you are unable to attend, please let us know and we will do our best to fill the space you have vacated.”
The tournament has already received excellent support from fans. A crowd of 27,000 watched the double-header at Lord’s on the final day of the group stage. South Africa qualified for the semi-finals after beating Bangladesh, while Australia defeated India later that day.
Overall, more than 160,000 tickets have been sold during the tournament. This is a new attendance record for any ICC women’s event and more than double the crowd that attended the Women’s Cricket World Cup in England in 2017.
The tournament has also set new attendance records for women’s cricket at Edgbaston, where 18,814 fans watched India play Pakistan, and at The Oval, where 21,018 spectators watched England take on New Zealand.
Tournament director Beth Barrett-Wild praised the support from fans throughout the competition. “It’s been incredible,” Beth Barrett-Wild said last week. “We set out on a mission to break women’s cricket into the mainstream and over the course of the last three weeks we’ve seen record-breaking crowds. I feel like we’ve definitely delivered.”
(Inputs sourced from Cricinfo)
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