Five-team Commonwealth Games Qualifier set to commence;
The round-robin T20 tournament to decide who joins the seven teams already qualified for Birmingham. Australia, Barbados, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa commences. With a match between Bangladesh and Malaysia and will see Bangladesh and Sri Lanka face off on the last day.
Women’s cricket will be part of the Commonwealth Games for the first time ever. In what is seen as a huge opportunity to take the game to new fans. It will only be the second time that cricket will feature in it. After a men’s competition was part of the Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Nigar Sultana: “We are very confident. It was not easy for us to return to competitive cricket after the disruptions of training and matches because of Covid-19. However, we are well prepared now, having played in different conditions during the past few months.
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu feels it is vital for their team to win the tournament after having missed qualifying for the 50-over World Cup.
Chamari Athapaththu: “Apart from the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games (cricket competition) is the other major tournament to be held in 2022. Obviously, it won’t wipe out the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup but will give us some amount of solace.
Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce understands that it won’t be easy for her team but is still aiming to win the Qualifier.
CWG 2022: Final Commonwealth Games show up for grabs in Malaysia;
Kathryn Bryce: “Every time we go into a tournament the main objective is to try and win. There’s only one qualification spot available, so we know it’s going to be a challenging task coming up against the likes of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who’ve been near the top of the world stage for a long time now. They have a lot of experience but we’re looking forward to testing ourselves against them.
Kenya captain Margaret Ngoche wants to make the most of the opportunity of playing against teams like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Margaret Ngoch: “We want to utilize and maximize all the opportunities that will come our way in terms of experience and talent showcasing. We want to interact with other teams with the aim of building a great cricketing network and learn more from them. We want to ensure that we are among the top teams, and we are coming with a winning mentality.”
Malaysia captain Winifred Anne Duraisingam is hoping to gain the edge from familiar home conditions.
Winifred Anne Duraisingam: “It feels good to play hosts after not being able to play the last two years. Malaysia is blessed with good weather and of course our hospitality and food will, I hope, be a great experience for the teams coming in.
“In terms of advantage, we are certainly comfortable as we know the ground conditions and we hope this will give us an edge as we do our best. Without a doubt the strength of our team is in fielding and bowling. We are currently hard at work with our batting and we can see the improvements.