Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022: 8 Nations Including Indian Women Cricket Team Qualify For T20 Competition

Eight women cricket teams including India will participate in Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 next year. Cricket is the first sport that has announced qualifying teams for the global sports event, scheduled to be conducted in England next year. The cricket competition will be a T20 tournament. The announcement was made by International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

There have been 22 editions of the Commonwealth Games so far but this will be the first time that women’s cricket will be represented in Commonwealth Games. Also, this will only 2nd time that cricket will be featured during Commonwealth Games. During Commonwealth Games 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, a men’s ODI competition was conducted in which South Africa emerged as winners.

Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022: 8 Countries To Participate In Women’s Cricket

ICC announced that women cricket teams from 8 countries will participate in  Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. They are England, Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and one team from West Indies. These countries have qualified on the basis of their standings in MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings.

Countries from West Indies will not participate as a single nation as they do in ICC events. This is because athletes from the Caribbean nations will represent their individual countries in Commonwealth Games 2022.

A tournament will be held to qualify the last participating team from West Indies by January 31, 2020. The Commonwealth Games cricket tournament will take place at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, England.

ICC’s acting chief executive Geoff Allardice said that they are really proud and excited to be part of Commonwealth Games 2022.

“We are incredibly proud and excited to be part of Birmingham 2022 and it is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue to grow the women’s game globally. On behalf of the ICC and its Members, I thank the Commonwealth Games Federation for their support and look forward to seeing some superb cricket at Edgbaston,” he said.

Commonwealth Games 2022 will be conducted from July 28 to August 8, 2022. The Games will witness participation from 4500 athletes from 72 nations. Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 will be the first major multi-sport event in history to award more medals to women than men.