Women’s cricket features in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 22 editions.
Apart from the home team England, the six qualifying sides are Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and a country from the West Indies.
They have secured qualification on the basis of their standings in the ICC team rankings on April 1.
“As per the qualification process, the winner of a designated Qualifying event will determine which country from the Caribbean region gets to participate as athletes will be representing their individual countries and not the West Indies as they would at ICC events.
“The last participating team will be decided through a Qualifying tournament to be held by 31 January 2022, details of which will be announced in due course,” ICC said in a statement.
Cricket returns to the Commonwealth Games for the second time while women’s cricket features in the multi-sporting event for the first time ever.
The first instance of cricket in the Commonwealth Games was witnessed way back in 1998 when the men’s ODI team took part in the competition, with South Africa emerging victorious.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said, “It’s great to be confirmed a place in the Commonwealth Games. We are raring to go, confident of doing well after having made the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year.
“It is an awesome opportunity for both the women’s game and cricket to make a mark at the prestigious multi-discipline Games and we hope to return with loads of good memories.”
ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice added: “We are incredibly proud and excited to be part of Birmingham 2022 and it is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue to grow the women’s game globally.
“We are committed to maintaining the momentum that saw 86,174 fans packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup last year and Birmingham 2022 gives us another global stage on which to showcase the women’s game.”
(With PTI inputs)