The 2012 Women's World Twenty20 was the third Women's T20 World Cup competition, held in Sri Lanka from 26 September to 7 October 2012. The group stage matches were played at the Galle International Stadium in Galle and semi-finals and final were played at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The competition was held simultaneously with the equivalent men's tournament, the 2012 World Twenty20.
The eventual victors were the 2010 champions Australia, who beat pre-tournament favourites England by four runs in the final, a match which came down to the final ball. England captain Charlotte Edwards blamed this defeat on a "lack of discipline" in her side, whilst Test Match Special analyst Ebony Rainford-Brent cited underachieving bowlers and England's inability to rotate the strike.
With a total of 172 runs at an average of 43.00, Edwards was named Player of the Tournament.
Following warm-up matches, the eight teams were divided into two groups where matches were played in a round-robin format. The two best placed teams from each group progressed to the two-round knock-out stage, whilst the eliminated teams played each other for qualification for the 2014 tournament.
All matches were played at the following two grounds:
4 warm-up matches were played on 23 and 24 September featuring all 8 teams.