England Women Earn Direct Qualification In The 2022 Commonwealth Games
England Women Cricket Team [Photo-Getty]

England’s Women Cricket Team, the 2017 50-over World Cup champions, have become one of the eight teams that will be taking part in cricket’s historic return to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham since the Men’s showdown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998.

Heather Knight’s England earned automatic qualification, as hosts, following the announcement of the qualification process by the Commonwealth Games Federation [CGF] and the International Cricket Council [ICC] on Wednesday.

England, Commonwealth Games
England Women [Photo-Getty]
Apart from hosts England, the six other highest-ranked ICC Members in the T20I/ Rankings as of April 01, 2021, will qualify directly for the competition.

The remaining place will be allocated to the winner of the Commonwealth Games Qualifier, the format and other details of which will be announced soon. 31 January 2022 is the deadline for the Qualifier.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the qualification process-

  • 1 × Host CGA (automatic qualification)
  • 6 × Direct Qualification- top six highest-ranked CGA’s in the ICC IT20 rankings at the cutoff date- 1st April 2021.
  • 1 × Commonwealth Qualifier- top-placed CGA from the Commonwealth Games Qualifier.

Responding to the automatic qualification in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, England captain Heather Knight said-

 “It’s incredibly exciting that we’re going to be taking part in a Commonwealth Games on home soil. It’s an event I’ve often watched, and I never really imagined I’d be taking part, so it feels really special. It’s another fantastic opportunity for the game of cricket, with coverage live on the BBC, and the chance to reach the thousands of fans who like attending multi-sport events,”

“We can’t wait to be in Birmingham amongst all the other athletes, and we’re counting down towards 2022 – it’s going to be a huge year for us and for women’s cricket in general.”

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