The XXII Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England from July 28. After a long wait, women’s cricket will be making its debut in the games as confirmed by the Commonwealth Games Federation in August 2019. The last time a game of cricket was held in the multi-sport event was back in 1998.
Consisting of eight teams, all the matches would be Twenty20 format at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. While England saw an automatic qualification being the host, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Pakistan qualified based on the ICC Women’s T20I team rankings as of April 1, 2021. Filling one of the remaining two spots was Barbados from the West Indies region on the basis of their performance in the Cricket West Indies Twenty20 competition, the Twenty20 Blaze where they were the champions as their regional qualifiers were called off due to Covid-19 in August 2021. The remaining spot would be decided by the Commonwealth Games Qualifiers that are scheduled to be held in Malaysia this month.
Which teams are participating in Qualifiers of Commonwealth Games?
The Qualifying tournament will see five teams – host Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Scotland, and Kenya competing to grab the only empty spot for CWG 2022. Among the five, Bangladesh being a part of the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup as well are obviously the favorites but the fact that Sri Lanka joins Bangladesh in the top 10 T20I teams and are actually a place ahead of them at 8th, can’t be ignored. Meanwhile, Scotland finds a place at 13th while occupying the 23rd and 33rd spots are Kenya and Malaysia respectively in the T20I ranking. However, the 3rd ranked T20I all-rounder and 10th T20I ranked batter Kathryn Bryce led team Scotland has had a great 2021 and will be heading into the qualifiers with a good confidence level and so will Kenya and Malaysia.
Schedule – 2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifiers
| Date | Match |
| Tuesday, January 18 | Malaysia v Scotland |
| Tuesday, January 18 | Bangladesh v Kenya |
| Wednesday, January 19 | Scotland v Sri Lanka |
| Wednesday, January 19 | Malaysia v Bangladesh |
| Thursday, January 20 | Kenya v Sri Lanka |
| Saturday, January 22 | Kenya v Scotland |
| Saturday, January 22 | Malaysia v Sri Lanka |
| Sunday, January 23 | Bangladesh v Scotland |
| Sunday, January 23 | Malaysia v Kenya |
| Monday, January 24 | Bangladesh v Sri Lanka |
Author of the poetry book ‘The Scent of Rhythm’, I am a passionate writer and a Sports enthusiast who writes on Cricket and plays Badminton.