All-Star Cast For Women’s T20 Team Chasing History at Birmingham Games

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Australia’s all-conquering women’s cricket team will seek to add a historic first to their trophy cabinet at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games commencing in late July.

 

Australia’s all-conquering women’s cricket team will seek to add an historic first to their trophy cabinet at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games commencing in late July.

An all-star cast of 15 players has been chosen to represent Australia in the first women’s cricket competition to be held at the Games – a T20 tournament featuring the top eight nations in the Commonwealth.

After producing a phenomenal performance to claim the World Cup in the One Day International (ODI) format in March, the women’s team is chasing the nation’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in cricket.

Birmingham marks only the second time cricket has featured in a Commonwealth Games. Men’s 50-over cricket was held at the Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games where the Australian men’s team captained by Steve Waugh won the silver medal. The Australian women’s T20 side will be aiming to go one better in Birmingham.

 

 

Melburnian Meg Lanning will captain the Australian team, the current world champions in T20s and ODIs, is leading the charge for the green and gold.

“We are excited to be a part of the Australian team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games,” Lanning said.

“To be there with athletes from badminton, squash, lawn bowls and a host of other sports is going to be a wonderful new experience for our players to embrace. We’ve all grown up watching the Commonwealth Games on TV, seeing Australian athletes inspire the rest of the country, and we’re hoping to do the same.

“We love playing in the green and gold and will be giving it our all in Birmingham. Hopefully that’s good enough to win the gold medal.”

The Australian squad comprises a talented blend of established champions and emerging stars with both bat and ball.

Joining Lanning, 30, are familiar faces including Sydneysider Alyssa Healy, who set a new record at a World Cup by making 170 runs in the final against England in Christchurch.

Melbourne’s Ellyse Perry, who is the only athlete to represent their country in both a cricket and a football World Cup, will add a Commonwealth Games appearance to her decorated resume.

It will be an amazing feat that even trumps West Indian legend Sir Viv Richards, the “Master Blaster”, who played in two cricket World Cups and missed out on going to the FIFA World Cup after representing Antigua in qualifying matches for the 1974 tournament. In retirement, he became an ambassador for his nation at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Joining the experienced hands in Birmingham will be new sensations Darcie Brown, Alana King and Annabel Sutherland, who show abundant promise.

Brown, 19, from Kapunda in South Australia, is among the fresh faces who have impressed for their nation in all three forms of cricket over the past 12 months.

 

 

Leg-spinner King, 26, was born in Victoria and plays for Western Australia and Perth at domestic level. She was awarded for her progression by earning her first Australian cap in all three formats in the space of two weeks earlier this year.

Sutherland, 20, an all-rounder from Melbourne, has 21 international appearances to her credit since breaking into the Australian team in 2020.

Another Sydneysider, Ashleigh Gardner, 25, has proven to be a role model for Indigenous cricketers and continues to set an example for young players to aspire to.

Rachael Haynes, Nicola Carey, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington and Grace Harris round out the women’s squad.

The eight-nation T20 Games competition will feature two groups of four countries competing against each other in a round-robin format before sudden-death semi-finals. Australia heads Group A that includes India, Pakistan and Barbados. Group B features hosts England, New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka.

The Aussies will be seeking a victory that has so far eluded them at Edgbaston, where the inaugural T20 Commonwealth Games tournament will be held. As successful as our women’s team has been, they are yet to win in the two Tests and sole ODI they have played at the historic cricket ground.

The Australian side will finalise preparations for Birmingham by playing lead-up games against Ireland and Pakistan in the Northern Ireland village of Bready.

Commonwealth Games Chef de Mission Petria Thomas OAM is delighted that one of the nation’s favourite teams will debut at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“Women’s T20 cricket is an exciting and growing sport, so it is a thrill to welcome one of our nation’s most beloved teams into the Commonwealth Games Australia family,” Thomas said.

“The Australian women’s cricket team has captured our hearts over the past few years with incredible play, sportsmanship and passion. I know the cricketers will embrace our Australian team mantra of ‘Greater Together’ for the Games, and I can’t wait to watch them being bold, brave and brilliant in Birmingham.”

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley is proud to be sending such a competitive team to the Games.
“On behalf of Cricket Australia, I would like to congratulate those selected to represent Australia at the

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games,” Hockley said.

“The incredible success of this Australian women’s team, who currently hold both the ICC T20 and ODI World Cups, has inspired so many people, especially young girls and boys, to love and play cricket.

“Having women’s T20 cricket making its first appearance at the Commonwealth Games is another important and historic step in the growth of our sport, showcasing the best players in the Commonwealth.”

 

Australian T20 Cricket Team – Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games:

NAME EVENT AGE COMMONWEALTH GAMES SUBURB STATE POSTCODE
Darcie Brown Women's T20 Cricket 19 Debut Mile End SA 5031
Nicola Carey Women's T20 Cricket 28 Debut Tranmere TAS 7018
Ashleigh Gardner Women's T20 Cricket 25 Debut Edmonson Park NSW 2174
Grace Harris Women's T20 Cricket 28 Debut Oxley QLD 4075
Rachael Haynes Women's T20 Cricket 35 Debut Glebe NSW 2037
Alyssa Healy Women's T20 Cricket 32 Debut North Curl Curl NSW 2099
Jess Jonassen Women's T20 Cricket 29 Debut Alderley QLD 4051
Alana King Women's T20 Cricket 26 Debut Clarinda VIC 3169
Meg Lanning Women's T20 Cricket 30 Debut Kew VIC 3101
Tahlia McGrath Women's T20 Cricket 26 Debut Warradale SA 5046
Beth Mooney Women's T20 Cricket 28 Debut Virginia QLD 4014
Ellyse Perry Women's T20 Cricket 31 Debut Windsor VIC 3181
Megan Schutt Women's T20 Cricket 29 Debut Royal Park SA 5014
Annabel Sutherland Women's T20 Cricket 20 Debut Kooyong VIC 3144
Amanda-Jade Wellington Women's T20 Cricket 24 Debut Elizabeth North SA 5113

Women’s cricket makes its Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham 2022 in one of the sport’s fastest and most exciting formats. Eight teams will compete for the gold medal and will be divided into two groups. Each team plays the other three teams in the group phase. The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals, with the winners advancing to the gold medal match and the losers to the bronze medal playoff.

All matches at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will hold ICC T20 International status.

The sport returns to the Commonwealth Games for the first time since Kuala Lumpur 1998, where there was a men’s one-day international (50 overs) tournament won by South Africa, with Australia winning silver and New Zealand taking home bronze.

 

Commonwealth Games cricket medals summary by nation:

NATION GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
South Africa 1 0 0 1
Australia 0 1 0 1
New Zealand 0 0 1 1

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held from Thursday 28 July to Monday 8 August with the Women’s T20 Cricket tournament to held from Friday 29 July through Sunday 7 August at the historic Edgbaston Stadium.

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