Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is just one week away and cricket will return for the first time in 24 years, with the first women’s tournament to be played at the multi-sport event.
It all starts on Friday 29 July as eight sides compete across 16 matches at Edgbaston, with a winner crowned and all the medals finalised on Sunday 7 August.
The teams are split across two groups of four, with the top two in each qualifying for the semi-finals. Sides finishing first in their group will take on the second-place finisher in the opposite group, with the winners of the semis reaching the final.
The losers of the semi-finals will face off in a third-place playoff for the bronze medal, with the final determining the gold and silver medallists.
Group A: Australia, Barbados, India, Pakistan
Group B: England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka
As hosts, England qualified automatically for the tournament, with the next five best teams on the ICC Women’s T20I rankings also gaining qualification (Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan).
The final spot was determined at the Commonwealth Games Qualifier, held at the Kinrara Oval in Malaysia. In the five-team round robin event, Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh, Scotland, Malaysia and Kenya for the final spot, going through the tournament undefeated.
Cricket has featured once before at the Games – as a 16-team tournament on the men’s side – at the Kuala Lumpur Games, back in 1998.
South Africa claimed gold by beating Australia in the final, chasing down a target of 184 after Shaun Pollock’s 4/19. Mike Rindel top-scored with 67 (106), with Jacques Kallis’ 44 ensuring victory. In the Bronze Medal Match, Chris Harris was crucial with both bat and ball, joint top-scoring with 56 not out before taking 2/20 in a 51-run victory.
Tickets are still available to buy online at birmingham2022.com/tickets.
