Women’s cricket will be making its entry to the Commonwealth Games from next year.
India will face Australia in the opening match at the Commonwealth Games 2022 on July 29. The final of the women’s T20 competition will be played on August 7. India will next play against Pakistan on July 31, while Australia will take on Pakistan on August 3.
Notably, women’s cricket is making its debut at the Commonwealth Games 2022 with the T20 format, with 7 out of 8 qualifiers for the T20 competition already announced in April and the final team set to be finalized at the end of January 2022.
The hosts England will open their campaign at the Commonwealth Games on July 30 against the winner of a qualifying tournament which is due to take place at the start of 2022. England will next play South Africa on August 2 in the early session and then New Zealand in the evening session on August 4.
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement: “The women’s cricket T20 competition will be held at the Edgbaston Stadium from the 29 July, with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on 7 August.”
Meanwhile, the ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice stated: “We have seen tremendous growth of the women’s game over the past few years and the Commonwealth Games will undoubtedly be another major moment on that journey.”
Allardice said, “Today’s announcement of the match schedule gives fans lots to look forward to, not least with the opening game between ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 finalists Australia and India and we know that Edgbaston will provide a great stage for the competition.”
The announcement of the match schedules came just a few weeks before tickets for Birmingham 2022 are expected to go on general sale.
Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, stated: “Not surprisingly we have already sold thousands of tickets for both the netball and cricket T20 sessions through our ticket ballots.”
Kidson signed off by saying, “…but we know that some fans have been waiting to find out the details of the match schedules before choosing which sessions they want to attend, so we’re expecting these sports to sell quickly, when ticket sales go live.”
(With PTI Inputs)