Windies Women not allowed to compete as a team at 2022 Commonwealth Games

Tue, Apr 27, '21

West Indies Women will not be allowed to compete as a team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Instead, a regional Qualifying tournament to determine which island will compete at the Games will have to be staged by Cricket West Indies (CWI). Under the International Cricket Council (ICC), West Indies compete as a single entity but the Games is not an ICC-organised event. Ten sovereign states make up the West Indies, plus a number of British, Dutch and American overseas territories, meaning the team itself is not eligible to appear at the Commonwealth Games, but many of the constituent countries are.

With West Indies unable to compete as one entity, this year’s T20 Blaze – the Cricket West Indies women’s domestic championship – will determine the country which joins the several global powerhouses. CWI last hosted the T20 Blaze in 2019 when Barbados emerged winners in the tournament staged in Guyana. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic wiped out all domestic women’s cricket in the Caribbean last year and has continued to keep a question mark over the hosting of the T20 Blaze this year.

With women’s cricket not overly strong in the individual islands, as compared to those countries which have qualified such as England and India, the chances of the team eventually chosen from the Caribbean are expected to be considerably weakened.

Cricket, which is the first discipline to announce qualifying teams for the Games, is making a landmark re-entry to the prestigious multi-sport event that is scheduled for July 28 to August 8 next year.

Read more at Barbados Today