‘We’ve been getting death threats’: Kate Cross and Alex Hartley reveal shocking abuse after questioning ICC Women’s T20 World Cup schedule
England cricketers Kate Cross and Alex Hartley have revealed that they received abusive messages, including death threats, after questioning the ICC over the scheduling of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-finals. The controversy started after Cross questioned on social media why the tournament schedule appeared to be contingent on a particular team reaching the semi-finals. According to the ICC’s playing conditions, the top-placed team from Group A will face the second-placed team from Group B in the first semi-final on June 30. The winners of Group B will then meet the second-placed team from Group A in the second semi-final on July 2.
However, the same playing conditions also said that if India qualified for the semi-finals, they would play in the first semi-final regardless of whether they finished first or second in Group A. The first semi-final is scheduled to begin at 2:30 PM local time (7 PM IST), while the second semi-final will start at 6:30 PM local time (11 PM IST). Cross described the arrangement as ‘ridiculous’. Speaking on the latest episode of No Balls: The Cricket Podcast, Hartley said the backlash quickly escalated. “We’ve been getting death threats and abuse online,” Hartley said on the latest episode of No Balls: The Cricket Podcast, which she co-hosts with Cross.
Cross added, “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.”
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Hartley later said she contacted an ICC official to seek clarification regarding the scheduling. “I’ve actually spoked 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,” Hartley said.
Cross stressed that their remarks had been misinterpreted on social media and were never intended as criticism of the Indian women’s cricket team. “It feels like we’ve cleared that up. Thanks everyone that has got in touch and supported us. That’s been lovely reading all those (messages). It’s mad, isn’t it? We spoke about social media so much on this platform but let’s just be a bit kinder. Like I wasn’t slagging off India as a cricket team,” Cross said.
She further added, “I was just saying ‘I don’t think that any tournament should be based on a cricket team getting through a semi-final’. Turns out that wasn’t right anyway. To the person that quote us, if you are going to quote us, quote what we say don’t quote what you think we’ve said. The people have opened up to their interpretation,” she added.
