The first article our Guide to Cricket series covered the basics of cricket, you can read it here if you missed it. The next article took a look at the key rules of the game. Hopefully by reading those two articles you have a good understanding of cricket. However, its totally understandable if you don’t! Cricket is a complex game with a lot of rules. That’s where this article comes in. Here we’re going to try to provide you with some key facts that will make you sound like you know what you’re talking about this summer, even if you don’t.
International tournaments
This is the first time women’s cricket has featured at the Commonwealth Games. It will also be the first time any cricket has featured since 1998, when men’s cricket was played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Cricket has only featured at the Olympics once, all the way back in 1900. Only two teams competed – a British team and a team representing a French club. Great Britain won the only match to claim the gold medal.
Australia are the reigning Twenty20 and ODI World Cup Champions. They have won the ODI World Cup a record seven times, with the most recent win coming in New Zealand earlier this year.
Cross-code superstars
Several of the stars at the Commonwealth Games this year have represented their countries in other sports as well.
- Ellyse Perry has also represented Australia in football. She has three international goals for Australia, including their only goal against Sweden at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
- Diana Baig of Pakistan has also represented her national team in football.
- Suzie Bates has played for the Tall Ferns, New Zealand’s basketball team. This is not Bates’s first multi-sport event, having represented New Zealand at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
- Hayley Matthews has represented Barbados in javelin at youth level. At the 2015 CARIFTA Matthews won a gold medal.
Remember Beijing 2008? @SuzieWBates does, and she won't let Melie Kerr forget about it either! 🏀#EarnTheFern #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/znVHivy4GZ
— WHITE FERNS (@WHITE_FERNS) July 14, 2022
Young players to look out for
A number of exciting young stars are set to light up the Commonwealth Games this year, and our Guide to Cricket has you covered with who they are.
Charlie Dean had a breakout tournament at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. The introduction of Dean partway through the tournament brought about a change in England’s fortunes. England lost their opening three games of the tournament before Dean helped them make it all the way to the final.
At just 24 years old, Hayley Matthews is already captain of both Barbados and West Indies. She kicked off a wonderful World Cup with a stellar century against New Zealand and she never looked back. Matthews is coming off a superb domestic season, scoring 194 runs and taking 6 wickets in the West Indies T20 Blaze last month.
Sophie Ecclestone of England is the top ranked bowler in the world in both ODIs and T20s, despite only being 23 years old. In 3 recent T20 matches against South Africa, Ecclestone took 5 wickets. She also chipped in with a very useful 33 runs off just 12 balls in the final match. Look for Ecclestone to be key for England if they want to take home the gold medal.
Tournament predictions
While Australia are favourites, they haven’t played much cricket since their triumph at the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. Due to rain, they were only able to play two of their four scheduled matches in the tri-series with Ireland and Pakistan.
England will be hoping for success in home conditions. They will be coming into the Commonwealth Games with plenty of preparation. All of the players have been involved in domestic cricket and the recent multi-format series with South Africa.
South Africa’s involvement in that multi-format series will serve them well going into this tournament. While they may not have won a game, the experience in English conditions will be invaluable. Missing Marizanne Kapp (personal reasons) and Lizelle Lee (retirement) will hurt their chances at a medal though.
Barbados could be the dark horses. They’ve just come off a strong domestic season and boast a number of stars from the West Indies squad. Look for them to cause some upsets throughout the Games.
New Zealand have played almost no cricket since their final match at the World Cup. A small number of their players were involved in the Fairbreak Invitational tournament, which may have helped to keep them fresh. They have played a couple of warm up matches against England ‘A’, but it’s unlikely this will be enough preparation.
India are also down some of their star players in Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, with both not playing international T20 cricket anymore. Two good T20 wins against Sri Lanka should give them some confidence heading into this tournament.
Sri Lanka have not played much international cricket at all of late. In saying that, their win against India will boost their confidence. Sri Lanka’s captain, Chamari Athapaththu was a star at the Fairbreak Invitational and she could make a real impact at the Commonwealth Games.
While Pakistan only played one of their scheduled tri-series matches, they did win this game and three other T20s against Sri Lanka back in May. They built well throughout the World Cup, and won’t be easy to beat here in Birmingham.
When all is said and done, Australia are still my favourites for the gold medal. England are in with a good shot at the silver and I think Barbados could be surprise winners of the bronze.
That’s a wrap on our Guide to Cricket series. I hoped you’ve enjoyed reading it and learned something along the way!
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Written by Damon Lillis.
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