Hosts England kick-off their tournament against Sri Lanka on Saturday; they are joined by favourites Australia, plus India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and Barbados in eight-team T20 tournament; all games to be played at Edgbaston between July 29-August 7
Friday 29 July 2022 17:39, UK
England Women's captain Heather Knight will miss the team's opening match of the Commonwealth Games due to a hip injury.
England get their tournament under way against Sri Lanka on Saturday, in which Nat Sciver will again serve as stand-in skipper.
Knight suffered the knock in the opening T20 international of their three-match series against South Africa, the injury seeing her miss the second and third games as England secured a 3-0 sweep.
Knight told Sky Sports she is hoping to return for England's second group match against South Africa.
"The hip has taken a little bit longer to settle than first envisaged. Tuesday is now my goal, trying to be ready for then," she said. "I'll try and support the girls the best I can for tomorrow.
"Nat is going to be great. She has obviously captained the last two games; the team will be in very good hands.
Asked whether the injury could rule her out for the entire T20 tournament, with the final being played a week on Sunday (August 7), Knight replied: "I hope not.
"We're going to have to wait and see. It's one of those where it's a little bit of a patience game. I'm just trying to let the injections do their work and see where I am.
"I'm obviously disappointed for tomorrow, but I'm really hopeful I'm going to be back."
Australia, as holders of both limited-overs World Cups, are overwhelming favourites to top the podium after the final next Sunday in a tournament which features almost all of the leading cricketing nations.
They beat India in a thrilling match to open the Games by three wickets. Ashleigh Gardner's unbeaten 52 from 35 balls saw the Southern Stars recover from 110-7 in their chase of 155 as they won with an over to spare.
While Knight isn't getting carried away before her team has bowled a ball, she says that the changes the team have made for this tournament have been with a potential final showdown with Australia in mind.
"Just being part of Team England, something that everyone knows about, we got a little bit of a buzz about it last night - the atmosphere was unbelievable," Knight said.
"It's a chance for us as a sport to really have a different platform to reach different people, a platform for us to show off our skills and hopefully have some success.
"The first goal is always in a knockout competition is to make it to the final stages, so that's what we're focussed on at the moment, trying to make it out of the group and get to those medal matches.
"Obviously we'd love to make it to the final. It's no secret our goal will be to try and win.
"Australia have got the better of us in recent years and they'll certainly be favourites but I think the team is in a brilliant place and the changes we've made are all about trying to do things differently to try and beat Australia.
"I feel like those changes have worked very well so far; I think it's one of our best chances to go out there and hopefully come out on top."
Cricket has been played in the Commonwealth Games once before, in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, with South Africa winning a men's 50-over competition after beating Australia in the final.
This Games, though, marks the first involvement for women's cricket, with an eight-team T20 tournament taking place.
England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Barbados are the sides in the competition.
There's two groups of four, with England joined by Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand in Group B. Each side plays the other teams in their group once each.
The top two in each pool advance to the semi-finals with the bottom two eliminated. Every match will be held at Edgbaston.
July 29 - Australia beat India by three wickets; Barbados v Pakistan (6pm)
July 30 - New Zealand v South Africa (11am); England v Sri Lanka (6pm)
July 31 - India v Pakistan (11am); Australia v Barbados (6pm)
August 2 - England v South Africa (11am); New Zealand v Sri Lanka (6pm)
August 3 - Australia v Pakistan (11am); Barbados v India (6pm)
August 4 - South Africa v Sri Lanka (11am); England v New Zealand (6pm)
August 6 - Semi-finals (11am and 6pm)
August 7 - Bronze medal match (10am); Gold medal match (5pm)
