T20 World Cup champions Australia head five confirmed qualifiers who will join hosts England in the inaugural Commonwealth Games women's cricket tournament in Birmingham next year.
The Australians qualified for the T20 competition due to their world No.1 ranking on April 1 and skipper Meg Lanning welcomed the challenging program her team faced in 2022.
"Representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games will be an incredible experience and the team can't wait to take the field in Birmingham next year," Lanning said.
"It was already shaping up as a huge year with a home Ashes and a World Cup in New Zealand, and a Commonwealth Games takes it to another level."
The cricket program at the Games begins on July 29 and concludes with the gold medal match at Edgbaston on August 7.
The qualifiers who will join England in the eight-team competition are Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and a country from the West Indies.
The winner of a 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.
The remaining place will be allocated to the winner of a qualifying tournament on January 31.
Cricket has featured once before at the Commonwealth Games, albeit in the 50-over format. On that occasion, Australia claimed the silver medal at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 under the captaincy of Steve Waugh
Australian Associated Press
