T20 cricket takes center stage for the immediate future

Suddenly, attention has shifted in both men’s and women’s cricket to T20 cricket and is set to stay there for some months.

Immediate focus is upon preparation for the men’s ICC T20 World Cup, which begins on Oct. 16 in Geelong, Australia. In the meantime, the Asia Women’s T20 Cup is taking place in Bangladesh, with the final scheduled for Oct. 15. Australia’s Big Bash League will run between Dec. 13, 2022 and Feb. 4, 2023. This will be followed by the two new franchise T20 tournaments in the UAE and South Africa, the Bangladesh Premier League and the Pakistan Super League, all crammed mainly into January and February 2023.

Asia’s Women’s T20 Cup reached its semifinals stage on Oct. 11, with India, Pakistan, who beat India in the round-robin stage, Sri Lanka and Thailand emerging. It seemed that, despite a brave attempt by the Thailand team to reach the last four, including a victory over Pakistan, it would be edged out on net run rate by Bangladesh.

However, because of rain, no play was possible in Bangladesh’s final match against the UAE. This meant that, dramatically, Thailand ended in fourth place, instead of the host nation. Thailand will face India, who dismissed them for only 37 in the group stage match, hoping to avoid another low score. The UAE secured only one victory, over Malaysia, which lost all of its matches.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the UAE men’s team will compete in the Group Qualifying stage for the T20 Men’s World Cup, playing against Sri Lanka, Namibia and the Netherlands. A second group comprises the West Indies, Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe. The top two teams in each group will join the eight automatic qualifiers in the Super12 stage, starting on Oct. 22, culminating in the final on Nov. 13.