Sterre Kalis remembers the time she started playing cricket for Netherlands. This was long before their T20 matches achieved international status. Matches were far and few between. The players had to pay for tours and kits. Hardly a handful knew that a women's game was on. And even multi-team tournaments, like World Cup Qualifiers, were blink-and-miss appearances because of the limited opportunities and game time. The story was similar for most Associate teams in the last decade.
Now, Netherlands are like that kid in your class that came well-prepared for the exam. They are the first-timers at the Women's T20 World Cup 2026 and have played the 34 T20Is since the previous edition in 2024. That is the most by any participating team in this year's expanded 12-team competition. The other Associate team this year, Scotland, has played 21.
Picture this with the preparation of the previous two T20 World Cup debutants leading up to their first edition. Thailand had played no internationals for five months before the 2020 edition in Australia. Similarly, Scotland also turned up for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in April 2024 having not played for close to six months. After qualification and before the tournament proper, they played only two T20Is.
This is the first time that a Women's T20 World Cup has two Associate teams, and both Netherlands and Scotland are coming into it with a lot of cricket behind them. They played a tri-series just a week ago with Bangladesh, a Full-Member side, being the third team. Before the Qualifiers in Nepal in January, they also played the inaugural Women's Emerging Nations Trophy in Bangkok in November. As a result, they are not turning up cold for a big-ticket multi-team tournament.
"[Playing more cricket together as a team] has definitely helped and will probably have played a bit more consistently together as a team going into this World Cup," Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce tells ESPNcricinfo. "Having the experiences from playing in a World Cup before, knowing a bit more about the emotional side of how that feels and the different pressures and expectations that come with it. Whenever you do something for the first time, there's a lot of unknowns there. Playing different global tournaments is a different ballgame to the actual World Cup, but a majority of players in this squad have been there before, so it equally helps."
Kalis is one of the few professional players in the Dutch setup. When not playing internationals for Netherlands, she is busy plying her trade in the English domestic circuit. She has played in the now-defunct Kia Super League, the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup - competitions that have now given way to the ECB Women's One Day Cup and the Vitality Women's T20 Blast - as well as the Hundred. Playing for Netherlands means sharing those experiences to help her international team-mates.
"When you play as a professional, you get to play a lot of games, yes, but you also get to play at different grounds, different conditions and with different teammates," Kalis tells ESPNcricinfo. "You are training alongside players from different international teams and countries, you see how they go about their business, you ask questions about how they prepare for a game or how they would handle certain situations.
"I've played in front of quite big crowds now and I've been on TV before, that helps me a lot if you compare it to the girls who probably haven't done that before. At the World Cup, it is about getting to the ground, training there and, on the day before the game, just look at the ground and take it all in. It is obviously different when the crowds aren't there but it helps getting used to everything.
"I am trying to speak to the girls about how it is to play [various competitions] and stuff but I am sure our cricket is in a good place. We beat Bangladesh for the first time recently. Beating a Full Member is a huge confidence booster, and we play them in our first group game at the T20 World Cup. So I think we can really compete in this World Cup."
With England hosting the T20 World Cup, the conditions will be familiar to Kalis and a lot of Scotland players who play domestically in England. Kathryn and her sister, wicketkepeer Sarah Bryce, play for The Blaze. Priyanaz Chatterjee (Surrey), Rachel Slater (Scotland), Abtaha Maqsood (Essex), Ailsa Lister and Darcey Carter (Lancashire) are some of the Scotland players who regularly play in the English domestic circuit. Then there is Kirstie Gordon, who played for England in the T20 World Cup 2018, has been a constant for The Blaze, and is now back to playing for Scotland. The Bryce sisters, Gordon and Maqsood have also played the Hundred.
"It's huge for developing my own game and to have the opportunity to play with some of the best players in the world and compete against them," Kathryn says. "During training sessions, I am trying to keep asking questions and learning from other people. When you come back into different environments, like Scotland for example, it is not about directly just talking about your own experiences. It is about having conversations about what and how people think about the game which helps them develop. It is about putting those experiences to use and being the best version of myself for the other team-mates."
Sarah, apart from the Hundred, has also played in the WPL and the WBBL. She is a top-order wicketkeeper-batter but had a very different role as a finisher for Delhi Capitals in WPL 2024 under Meg Lanning's captaincy. She came out with flying colours: a strike rate of 150 in the five times she got to bat in the competition.
"That was obviously an incredible experience and getting to play in front of those sorts of crowds," Sarah says. "As an overseas player, I think it also comes with an added little bit of pressure that you have to embrace. Playing a slightly different role, down the order a little bit and trying to finish it off is not something that I've done a huge amount but I had to quickly figure out how I could do that successfully with my game. I have put that experience into my game to build a longer innings, and then have a really good finish at the end. So yes, it was a different role but it has helped me get better at the role I play for the Scotland team."
Of course, only a few from the Associates, or even other international sides, get to feature in franchise T20 leagues. How do they then share those experiences with their team-mates in the national side?
"I think you can just have loads of little conversations about maybe how you felt, or the chats you had with your team-mates there and how they felt, and just give people an idea of how it is like," Sarah says. "So when they face a similar situation, it is not like a shock to their system, but they have a rough idea of what to do."
Kalis concurs. "If I am in a situation where I need certain runs in certain overs, I am now a little better in recognising when to start accelerating or when to stay in the game for a bit longer and take it deeper. You need to be smart and read the game a lot, and that's why communicating to your batting partner at the other end helps. It is you two against the whole team out there."
The exposure to some high-tier cricket coupled with the familiarity of conditions has already shown the effect it can have. Like Netherlands, Scotland also won a women's T20I against Bangladesh for the first time in the recent tri-series. Ireland, who last played the T20 World Cup in 2023, achieved their highest successful T20I chase against regulars Pakistan. Bangladesh have never played in England before, while Pakistan have toured England only twice in the last decade outside of the multi-team competitions.
"It always helps playing in conditions you know a lot more about, in stadiums where you've played often," Kathryn says. "You have a bit of better understanding of your surroundings and the conditions. I think a few girls on the team have Lancashire as their home club. Being in a familiar environment and possibly in their own changing room definitely helps."
While playing competitively in England has its benefits, Scotland head coach Craig Wallace also presents the other side of it. "The big benefit of so many of our players playing in England and obviously me being full-time up in Scotland is that I get to work really really closely with Scottish-based players," he says. "We train like two or three times a week. "It's quite small group sessions, sometimes one-to-ones and we can really fast track their improvement especially during training. The most important bit heading into the World Cup is to get them up to speed on the tactics point of view, because they don't play as much as the others."
Kalis, a Yorkshire regular, knows Headingley pretty well. Scotland's 17-year-old quick Gabriella Fontenla, who has impressed with her high pace, also plays club cricket in Yorkshire. Netherlands will take on India in Leeds, while Scotland play West Indies and England at the venue. Consequently, Netherlands and Scotland are likely to be in familiar territory even if the glitz of the occasion may be new. Expect them to cause a flutter or two. This time with the world's gaze firmly on them