cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

tournament was held at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, during July and August 2022. It was cricket's first inclusion in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

since a List A men's tournament was held at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The matches were played as

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

s (WT20Is), with only a women's tournament being part of the Games.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, after winning their first two matches in Group A.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's win over

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in the second round of matches ensured their own and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's progression to the semi-finals.

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

completed the semi-final line-up, beating

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

in their final group match. India won the first semi-final, beating England by 4 runs. Australia won the second semi-final, beating New Zealand by 5 wickets. New Zealand claimed the bronze medal after beating England by 8 wickets in the Bronze Medal Match. Australia claimed the gold medal, with India taking silver, after winning the Gold Medal Match by 9 runs. Australian batter

Beth Mooney Bethany Louise Mooney (born 14 January 1994) is an Australian professional cricketer who plays for the national cricket team as a batter in all three formats of the game. At the domestic level, she plays as a wicket-keeper-batter for Western ...

was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 179 runs, whilst India's Renuka Singh was the leading wicket-taker, with 11 wickets.

Schedule

The competition schedule for the cricket tournament was as follows: In April 2021 the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

(ICC) announced that all matches at the tournament would hold

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

status. The dates of the tournament were confirmed in June 2021.

Background

The Commonwealth Games 2022 was held in Birmingham, England, from 28 July to 9 August and had over 5,000 athletes representing 72

Commonwealth Games Associations A Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) is a national sports council of the Commonwealth Sports movement. Each association is responsible for organising, supporting and overseeing their national team for both the Commonwealth Games and the Commonw ...

taking part. Under Commonwealth Games rules, all core Commonwealth sports must be hosted but additional sports may be added by the local organising committee. In November 2018, the

(ICC) and the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, ...

(ECB) made a joint bid for a women's Twenty20 tournament to be included. In August 2019, the

Commonwealth Games Federation The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), currently known as Commonwealth Sport, is the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games, and is governing body of the ...

announced that the bid had been successful after a vote of all 72 Commonwealth Games Associations with women's cricket being added to the 2022 programme along with

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

and

para table tennis Para table tennis is a parasports which follows the rules set by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The usual table tennis rules are in effect with slight modifications for wheelchair athletes. Athletes from disability groups can ...

. The

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC), as custodian of the

Laws of Cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code which specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744 and, since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lond ...

, welcomed the move and hoped it would eventually lead to cricket's inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Venues

The tournament was played in Twenty20 format with eight teams qualifying.

Edgbaston Cricket Ground Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England. It is home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club and its T20 team Birmingham Bears. Edgbaston has ...

in Birmingham was the venue for the matches. Though there were suggestions for matches to also be held at the

County Cricket Ground, Derby The County Cricket Ground (usually shortened to the County Ground, also known as the Racecourse Ground; currently the Incora County Ground due to sponsorship) is a cricket ground in Derby, England. It has been the home of Derbyshire County Cricke ...

; New Road, Worcester; and

Grace Road Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. History Leicestershire ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, none of these were selected in the final confirmation.

Qualification

In November 2020, the ICC announced the qualification process for the 2022 Commonwealth Games tournament. England automatically qualified as the hosts, along with the six highest ranked sides as of 1 April 2021 as direct qualifiers. One further place was awarded to the winners of the

2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifier The 2022 Commonwealth Games Qualifier was a cricket tournament played in Malaysia in January 2022. Five national teams competed for one place in the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, England, in July to August 20 ...

. The allocation of the six direct qualifiers via the ICC Women's T20I rankings was dependent on the representation of at least four out of the six

regions (Africa, Americas, Asia, Caribbean, Europe and Oceania). If at least four regions were not represented from those in the top seven, then teams ranked eighth to tenth were the first to be considered to meet the criteria, before filling the remaining allocations from the rankings. Each team can enter a squad of up to 15 athletes. As the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

qualified as a direct qualifier, the results of a separate tournament were originally going to be used to determine which

Commonwealth Games Association A Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) is a national sports council of the Commonwealth Sports movement. Each association is responsible for organising, supporting and overseeing their national team for both the Commonwealth Games and the Commonw ...

(CGA) earned qualification. The tournament was scheduled to be contested between

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and two composite teams representing the Leeward Islands and

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

. However, in August 2021,

Cricket West Indies Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Indies). It was originally ...

(CWI) confirmed that the regional qualifier had been postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. As a result, Barbados were selected to represent the West Indies, by virtue of being the

Twenty20 Blaze The Twenty20 Blaze, officially the West Indies Cricket Board Women's Twenty20 Blaze and previously known as the West Indies Cricket Board Regional Women's Twenty20 Championship, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by Cricket West I ...

defending champions. The Commonwealth Games Qualifier, to determine the final team, took place in Malaysia in January 2022.

won the qualifier, beating

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

by 22 runs in the final match of the tournament, to secure their place at the Commonwealth Games.

Squads

The following squads were named for the tournament. Prior to the Games,

Lauren Down Lauren Renee Down (born 7 May 1995) is a New Zealand cricketer who has played for Auckland and New Zealand. She made her Women's One Day International cricket (WODI) debut for New Zealand Women against the West Indies Women on 4 March 2018. In ...

and

Jess Kerr Jess Mackenzie Kerr (born 18 January 1998) is a New Zealand cricketer who plays for Wellington Blaze in domestic cricket. Career On 16 January 2020, she was named in New Zealand's Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) and Women's One Day Int ...

were both ruled out of New Zealand's squad with

Lea Tahuhu Lea-Marie Maureen Tahuhu (born 23 September 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast bowler. She made her international debut for the New Zealand women's cricket team in June 2011. Career In December 2017, she was named ...

and Claudia Green named as their replacements. India also named Simran Bahadur,

Richa Ghosh Richa Ghosh (born 28 September 2003) is an Indian cricketer. In January 2020, at the age of 16, she was named in India's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Later in the same month, she was also named in India's squad for the 2020 Aust ...

and

Poonam Yadav Poonam Yadav (born 24 August 1991) is an Indian cricketer who plays for the national women's cricket team as a leg-spin bowler. She made her debut in International cricket on 5 April 2013 in a Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) match again ...

as standby players in their squad.

Marizanne Kapp Marizanne Kapp ( , ; born 4 January 1990) is a South African international cricketer who plays for South Africa national women's cricket team. She was the first cricketer for South Africa to take a hat-trick in a Women's Twenty20 International ...

was ruled out of South Africa's squad due to family reasons.

Trisha Chetty Trisha Chetty (born 26 June 1988) is a South African cricketer. She has played two Tests, and made one hundred and twenty limited-overs appearances for South Africa since 2007. She plays as a wicket-keeper and right-handed batter. On 17 March ...

and Tumi Sekhukhune were also ruled out of South Africa's squad due to injuries. As a result, Delmi Tucker and

Tazmin Brits Tazmin Brits (born 8 January 1991) is a South African athlete and cricketer. She won gold in the javelin throw at the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics. She was in line to be selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, before bei ...

were both added to their squad. England's captain Heather Knight was ruled out of their first match due to a hip injury, with

Nat Sciver Natalie Ruth Sciver-Brunt (; ; born 20 August 1992) is an English cricketer. She was the first cricketer for England to take a hat-trick in a Women's Twenty20 International match. The " Natmeg" shot is named after Sciver, from when she has hit ...

named as the team captain in her place.

Group stage

The schedule for the tournament was announced in June 2021, with the full list of fixtures being confirmed in November 2021. The ICC confirmed that all matches, including those involving Barbados (whose players would usually represent the West Indies), will be designated as Twenty20 Internationals.

Group A

Advanced to the semi-finals

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Group B

Advanced to the semi-finals

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Medal round

Semi-finals

The schedule and timings of the semi-finals were confirmed on 5 August 2022.

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Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final standings

The final standings were as follows:

Statistics

Most runs

Most wickets

Notes

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{2022 English cricket season Cricket at the Commonwealth Games Cricket at the 2022 Commonwealth Games International women's cricket competitions in England International cricket competitions in 2022 2022 Commonwealth Games events