Women's T20 set to feature on the opening day of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games

The 11-day competition will start 14 different sports on the first day on July 29 after the opening ceremony on July 28. Women’s T20I is scheduled to be featured among the 14 events on the first day and will be played at Edgbaston from July 29 to August 7. Eight teams will have a chance to compete for a medal in T20 cricket.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), in August 2019, announced that Women’s T20 cricket will be part of the 2022 Birmingham Games following the joint bid made by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC). The announcement came after the 71 member associations of the CGF voted by a required majority to ratify the decision to include three new sports to its program in 2022— women’s T20 cricket, beach volleyball and para table tennis.

“We are incredibly excited that Women’s T20 Cricket will be included in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. It’s an honour for cricket to be involved in an event that is committed to championing female and para sport,” Clare Connor, ECB managing director of women’s cricket, said at the time.

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Ian Reid, Birmingham 2022 chief executive officer, said the CGF has worked closely with the international sporting bodies in various sports in working out the schedule for the competition.

Cricket featured first time in the Commonwealth Games in 1998 when men’s ODI event was part of the games held in Kuala Lumpur. This will be the first-time women’s cricket is part of the games, giving the 2022 event the biggest female sports program in Commonwealth Games history. It will also be the first time the event has featured more women’s medals than men’s.

The ICC will be responsible for the competition terms and the conduct of cricket, by way of providing match officials and ensuring matches are played as per the laws of the game.

Women’s cricket will be having a packed calendar in 2022 with the ICC postponing 2021 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. The next edition of T20 World Cup in South Africa is also scheduled to be played in the same year.

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