Commonwealth Games 2022

Cricket all set to make a return to the Commonwealth Games 2022

The game of cricket is all set to make a return to the ‘Commonwealth Games 2022’ in Birmingham, England in July and August 2022. Cricket was last featured in the commonwealth games in the year 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with Men’s ODIs. South Africa won the finals against Australia and were awarded the Gold Medal.

This time around it will feature a women’s tournament in T20 format the dates of which were confirmed in the year 2021.

In November 2020, the Apex Cricket Body announced the qualification process for the 2022 Commonwealth Games tournament. England automatically qualifies as the hosts, along with the six highest-ranked sides as of 1 April 2021 as direct qualifiers. One further place will be awarded to the winners of a Commonwealth Games Qualifier tournament. The Commonwealth Games Qualifier, to determine the final team, took place in Malaysia in January 2022. Sri Lanka won the qualifier, beating Bangladesh by 22 runs in the final match of the tournament, to secure their place at the Commonwealth Games.

A total of 8 teams will be playing in the tournament namely England, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Barbados and Sri Lanka.

 The teams have been divided into two groups with Australia, Barbados, India and Pakistan in Group A while England New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group B. All teams will play once against each other in the group stage. All the matches of the tournament will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The top two teams from both groups will qualify for Semi-Finals. The losing team in the semi-finals will get to play in the Bronze Medal Match. There will be a total of 16 games played in the tournament. The tournament will kick off on 29^th July 2022 and will end with the final match to be played on 7^th August.

Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan teams have already announced their squads for the tournament.