Commonwealth Games cricket qualification process announced

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced the qualification process for the cricket tournament at the 2022 games in Birmingham.

The ICC have sanctioned the involvement of its Commonwealth member nations’ Women’s teams in a T20 tournament.

Cricket returns to the Commonwealth Games

Women’s cricket will be a part of the Commonwealth Games for the first time ever in 2022 as cricket returns for the first time since 1998.

The qualification process announced on Wednesday grants hosts England one spot while six other highest-ranked ICC Members in the Women’s T20I Team Rankings as of 1 April 2021 also qualify directly for the eight-team tournament, which will be held in a city that has an iconic cricket venue in Edgbaston.

The remaining place in the tournament will be allocated to the winner of a Commonwealth Games Qualifier, the format and details of which are yet to be announced.

Since athletes from the Caribbean will be representing their individual countries, the winner of a qualifying tournament will decide which nation gets to compete if the West Indies get a slot.

CGF President Louise Martin and ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney emphasized on the potential of cricket in the Commonwealth Games.

“We are absolutely delighted to have women’s T20 cricket debut at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games,” Martin said.

“Cricket has always been one of the Commonwealth’s most popular sports and it is so special to have it back at our Games for the first time since the men’s competition at Kuala Lumpur 1998, where true greats of the game including Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar were on show. Now is the turn of the women and I can’t wait to see the next generation of stars like Heather Knight, Harmanpreet Kaur and Meg Lanning take centre stage.

“Birmingham 2022 will be a fantastic showcase for the women’s game and the unveiling of the qualification criteria today is an exciting and important milestone as we head towards what will be a spectacular competition at the iconic Edgbaston Stadium.”

Sawhney hopes that the tournament will help to maintain the momentum gained from the wildly successful 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia.

“Cricket at the Commonwealth Games is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue to grow the women’s game globally,” Sahwney said.

“We are committed to accelerating this growth and maintaining the momentum we have created over the past few years, which most recently saw 86,174 fans packed into the MCG for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.

“I thank the Commonwealth Games Federation for their support and for making this possible. We share with them the vision of greater equality, fairness and opportunity in sport and I am sure Birmingham 2022 will go a long way towards us achieving our common objectives.”

ICC Women’s T20I Rankings