The game of cricket is set to make a return to the Commonwealth Games after 24 years as a women’s T20I tournament is set to be organised this year at the grand event. The tournament is all set to begin on 29th July 2022 with the final scheduled to be played on 7th August 2022. All the matches of the grand event will be played at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
However, this is not the first time that cricket is being played at the Commonwealth Games as it was also included in the 1998 edition of the Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The matches were played in the 50-over format with 16 teams participating. South Africa ended up as the gold medalists, Australia were the silver medalists and New Zealand won the bronze medal.
Qualifications
The apex cricket body announced the qualification process for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in November 2020. England automatically qualified as hosts of the tournament along with the six highest-ranked sides as of 1 April 2021 as direct qualifiers. There was one more place kept for the winners of the Commonwealth Games qualifier tournament.
As West Indies earned a direct qualification being a high-ranked side, a separate tournament was going to be organised to determine which Commonwealth Games Association earned qualification. But the regional qualifier tournament got postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic as a result of this, Barbados were selected to represent the West Indies, as they were the Twenty20 Blaze defending champions.
Sri Lanka emerged victorious in the Commonwealth Games Qualifier by beating Bangladesh in the finals by 22 runs and sealed the final spot for the main tournament.
The upcoming edition of the tournament will see 8 teams participating which will be further divided into two groups. Group A consists of Australia, Barbados, India and Pakistan while Group B consists of England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. All the teams will play one match against each other in the group stage with the top two teams qualifying for the semi-finals from each group. Both the semi-finals will be played on 6th August 2022 while the finals and the third position match, which will feature the losing teams of both the semi-finals, will be played on 7th August.
Group A
| Date | Match | Venue |
| 29 July 2022 | Australia vs India | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 29 July 2022 | Pakistan vs Barbados | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 31 July 2022 | India vs Pakistan | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 31 July 2022 | Barbados vs Australia | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 3 August 2022 | Australia vs Pakistan | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 3 August 2022 | India vs Barbados | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
Group B
| Date | Match | Venue |
| 30 July 2022 | New Zealand vs South Africa | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 30 July 2022 | England vs Sri Lanka | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 2 August 2022 | England vs South Africa | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 2 August 2022 | Sri Lanka vs New Zealand | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 4 August 2022 | South Africa vs Sri Lanka | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 4 August 2022 | England vs New Zealand | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
Semifinals and Finals
| Date | Match | Venue |
| 6 August 2022 | 1st Semifinals | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 6 August 2022 | 2nd Semifinals | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 7 August 2022 | Bronze medal match | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| 7 August 2022 | Final – Gold medal match | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
Commonwealth Games 2022 Cricket Squad
Australia
Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington
Pakistan
Bismah Maroof (c), Muneeba Ali (wk), Anam Amin, Aiman Anwer, Diana Baig, Nida Dar, Gull Feroza (wk), Tuba Hassan, Kainat Imtiaz, Sadia Iqbal, Iram Javed, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Omaima Sohail
New Zealand
Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Claudia Green, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Jess McFadyen, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu
India
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, S Meghana, Taniya Sapna Bhatia (Wk), Yastika Bhatia (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana.
England
Heather Knight (Captain), Maia Bouchier, Katherine Brunt, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver, Bryony Smith, Issy Wong, Danni Wyatt
Barbados
Hayley Matthews (c), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shanika Bruce, Shai Carrington, Shaunte Carrington, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Keila Elliott, Trishan Holder, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight
Alisa Scantlebury, Shakera Selman, Tiffany Thorpe, Aaliyah Williams
South Africa
Suné Luus (c), Anneke Bosch, Trisha Chetty, Lara Goodall, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Nadine de Klerk, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon du Preez, Tumi Sekhukhune, Shabnim Ismail, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt
Sri Lanka
Chamari Athapaththu, Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Malsha Shehani, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari, Rashmi de Silva, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Anushka Sanjeewani
Live Broadcast and Streaming
Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the tournament in India. The Live Streaming will be also available on the SonyLiv app and the website.
