It’s beginning to feel eerily familiar. As the summer draws closer, anticipation is building as stadia across England & Wales prepare to host another major tournament. We have seen it before.
The euphoria of the Lionesses home Euros win in 2022, marked a seismic shift in the perception of women in sport. In 2025, the Red Roses carried on the momentum, lifting the World Cup on home soil in front of record crowds. Closer to home, Rhian Wilkinson led Wales to their first major tournament, competing in the 2025 Euros, a tournament which the Lionesses won once more, marking a watershed moment; not just for Welsh football, but for national sporting identity itself.
Now, another global tournament looms, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Elite athletes, compelling rivalries and intense local identity; as England, Scotland and Ireland have all qualified. And yet, it doesn’t feel the same.
There’s no sense, at least not yet, that women’s cricket is about to dominate the national conversation in the way football and rugby have. No widespread anticipation that this will be the summer where everything changes. Part of the answer lies in visibility.
When the Lionesses triumphed in 2022 & 2025, they did so in front of record-breaking crowds and crucially, on free-to-air television. Women’s cricket, by contrast, remains far less visible. Much of the international game, and even significant portions of the domestic calendar, sit behind subscription services.
For potential new audiences, it is a barrier. You cannot build a cultural moment if people cannot easily watch it. Sky Sports have tried to address this issue by making some games available for free via their app and Sky Mix.
However, accessibility is not just about availability, it is about visibility. If audiences have to actively search for a game, download an app, or work out where Sky Mix sits in a crowded TV landscape, the moment is already diminished. There is also the question of perception.
Cricket in the UK still carries an image problem, one that feels particularly pronounced in the women’s game. It is often viewed as elitist, tied to private schools and exclusive pathways and less accessible than football or even rugby. Football’s success, especially in 2022, was rooted in its universality.
The Lionesses’ triumph felt shared because the sport itself belongs, culturally, to everyone. Cricket does not yet occupy that same space. Until it does, its ability to generate a truly national moment will remain limited.
Structure, too, plays a role. Women’s cricket has undergone significant transformation in recent years, from the introduction and subsequent dismantling of regional teams to the growth of The Hundred and the ongoing restructuring of the county game. It is not always clear where to start, how the different competitions fit together, or which ones carry the most weight.
Compared to the relative simplicity of the English football pyramid, this lack of clarity can make it harder for casual viewers, particularly those drawn in during major tournaments, to invest quickly and stay engaged. This summer’s World Cup represents a genuine opportunity. Not just because of the quality on show, but because the broader context has changed.
Women’s sport is no longer fighting for basic recognition in the same way it was even a few years ago. The task for cricket is to translate that momentum into its own movement. That will not happen automatically.
Momentum does not transfer neatly between sports. Fans who filled Wembley in 2022 will not necessarily tune into a cricket match unless given a reason to. That reason has to be built; through storytelling, accessibility, and visibility.
Women’s cricket is full of compelling narratives, but they need to be told and told well. England have not won a tournament since the home ODI World Cup in 2017, and the pressure is building on the tournament’s host. The success of the Lionesses and Red Roses was pivotal to the transformation of their sporting landscapes; England cannot expect a similar reception if they fall short.
On the pitch, however, there is serious potential, as Charlotte Edwards, now over a year into the Head Coach role, has had her first real opportunity to shape the squad. There is also a need to rethink accessibility in a broader sense. Grassroots engagement, community programmes and visible pathways into the sport all matter.
If cricket is to shed its elitist image, it must actively demonstrate that it is open to everyone. The England and Wales Cricket Board has begun to address this, with over 236,000 children from more than 1,350 schools picking up a bat and ball as part of Schools Cricket Day on 23 April, marking 50 days to go until the tournament begins. This was the largest single-day cricket participation event in UK history.
For Wales, this conversation carries an added layer of significance. The success of the national football team in reaching the Euros showed what is possible when visibility, identity and performance align. Replicating that in cricket is more complex, given the structure of the England and Wales Cricket Board means Wales falls under England’s banner, but the principle remains the same: representation matters.
The challenge is ensuring that interest is cultivated, rather than assumed. Ultimately, the question is not whether women’s cricket can have its moment. It can.
The quality is there. The athletes are there. The appetite, as recent summers have shown, is there.
The question is whether the structures around the sport will allow that moment to happen. If cricket wants to follow rugby and football, it must do likewise.