-PCB delighted on Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games qualification
Bureau Report
Lahore: Pakistan women’s team have qualified for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where women’s cricket will be played for the first time in history of the competition.
England qualified as the host nation with six qualifiers Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and a country from the West Indies secured qualification as a result of their standings in the ICC T20I 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,” ICC said in its press-release.
“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,” it added.
The Commonwealth Games cricket tournament will take place at the iconic Edgbaston Stadium, with tickets set to go on sale later this year.
It must be noted that it is for the very second time that cricket will be featured in Commonwealth Games. The first occasion being a men’s ODI competition in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, which was won by South Africa.
Meanwhile, The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has congratulated its women’s team for qualifying directly into the eight-team T20 event in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Game.
According to the details, women’s cricket has been included for the first time in the event. Pakistan is one of the seven sides, which has qualified directly. England, being the host nation, has progressed automatically, while the other six sides, as per their T20I rankings, are: Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies.
The eighth side – winner of the qualifying tournament, will qualify for the Birmingham event from the Commonwealth Games Qualifier, deadline of which is 31 January 2022.
The games are scheduled from 28 July to 8 August. Pakistan women’s cricket team previously featured in two Asian Games, winning gold in Guangzhou, China, in 2010 and in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.
PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan: “The Commonwealth Games provide Pakistan women’s cricketers with the opportunity to play against the best, in front of a global audience. This will not only give our national team a worldwide recognition but it will also enable us to use this profile and exposure to inspire and attract more young girls to take up the game in Pakistan,
“Besides enhancing the profile of our women cricketers, Commonwealth Games will provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to our players to interact and learn from professional athletes from other sports during their time in the athletes’ village,
“The PCB will now work with its women’s cricket team management and put together a robust training and practice schedule so that our girls are best prepared when they enter the Birmingham event in 15 months’ time,
“I want to compliment the ICC and its ICC Women’s Committee for aggressively and proactively working on the inclusion of women’s T20 in the Commonwealth Games. I also want to thank the Commonwealth Games Association of Pakistan for supporting the inclusion of the Pakistan women’s side’s by accepting the invitation from the event organisers”.
