Cricket kick starts 2022 Commonwealth Games as schedule revealed
Returning to the fold for the first time since 1998, cricket is among the 14 disciplines to begin on the first day of the competitions in Birmingham.
Cricket will be one of the first events to get underway at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. The official daily schedule was released on Friday.
Scheduled over eight days, cricket will be an eight-team women’s T20 affair. Where else but the iconic Edgbaston Stadium, the famous venue for Test cricket in England, will be a Games venue.
Cricket will be one of the 14 disciplines that will be part on the opening day of action on Friday 29th July 2022.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will be held from July 28 to August 8, will feature 19 disciplines in total. While swimming and diving will be held over 11 days, gymnastics and athletics will be held for a week at the Games.
However, for many Indian fans, the star attraction at the 2022 CWG will be women’s T20 competition. The sport was last held at the Kuala Lumpur Games in 1998. It was a 50-over affair and the men played.
Sixteen teams had contested the KL event. South Africa, featuring the likes of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis, beat a formidable Australian team, including legends like Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and the Waugh brothers, for the gold medal.
“This innovative and exciting sports schedule highlights exceptional partnership working with so many stakeholders to ensure the UK stages a fantastic, celebratory summer of sport in 2022,” the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) CEO David Grevemberg was quoted as saying by Athletics Weekly.
Besides cricket, the 2022 Commonwealth Games will see beach volleyball and para table tennis making their debut. Archery and shooting have been removed from the CWG programme for the Birmingham Games.
However, earlier this year, the CGF executive board had decided on hosting a separate event for shooting and archery after neither disciplines were included in the 2022 CWG programme.
The Commonwealth archery and shooting championships will be hosted in Chandigarh, India in January 2022. Medals won by nations will be counted in the final medals tally for the Birmingham Games.