ICC Cricket

Squads from England, Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies and New Zealand will descend on Taunton.After warm-up games at Taunton Vale and King’s College, the tournament will swing into action at the revamped 7,000-capacity County Ground.

County chief executive Richard Gould said: “We’re proud to be hosting this global competition.”We want to liase with schools and get children along to drive participation on the back of it.”We know we have a hotbed of cricket, but we want to make sure there are a lot more girls playing cricket afterwards.”

The semi-finals of the women’s and men’s events will be at Trent Bridge and the Oval, with the finals at Lord’s.Colin Gibson, England and Wales Cricket Board head of corporate communications, said media coverage would promote Taunton and the South-West globally.

He added: “It’s a great chance to show exactly what’s happening here.”A global event is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we want to ensure it isn’t missed.”We want people to go away knowing Taunton was part of it.”Tournament director Steve Elworthy said: “All the meetings, housing teams and security mean it’s a massive task.”