A Look at World Cricket’s 2022

We kicked off the year with two of cricket’s biggest Test match rivalries in the form of the Ashes and the Freedom Trophy played between South Africa and India. Ongama Gcwabe looks ahead to what the year will bring us in the cricketing world.  

There are two big tournaments in the first quarter of the year, the u19 World Cup in the West Indies and the Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

ICC Men’s u19 Cricket World Cup 2022

The u19 Cricket World Cup has officially begun in the West Indies and our u19 boys have already featured in a match against India which they lost by 45 runs. World Cricket’s future stars have all assembled for what is promising to be an entertaining World Cup campaign. India u19’s look like the favourites yet again with a strong squad while defending champions, Bangladesh, look nothing close to what they were in South Africa in the previous edition of the tournament.  

U19 cricket world cups have always been exciting because each country gets to showcase the muscle, fluency and effectiveness of their pipeline structures and the world gets to see who to look out for in the near future. This edition will show us the KG Rabada’s and Kohli’s of the future. I am looking forward to watching the youngsters grow in the tournament and beyond it. 

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022

Our Momentum Proteas have assembled for a training camp in preparation for a home four-match ODI Series against West Indies women. All four matches will be played in Johannesburg, Wanderers  Stadium under a bio-secure environment. 

This series is preparation for the World Cup for both teams, thus will be competitive and closely contested. Proteas skipper, Dane van Niekerk’s injury has ruled her out of the series and the World Cup as recovery time will be “no less than 12 weeks” (as per the team Doctor). This is a big blow for the  side but it’s an opportunity for another senior player to take on the leadership role within the side 

The World Cup starts on 4 March with hosts, New Zealand, taking on West Indies in the first match.  South Africa will take on Bangladesh the following day.

Test Championship

The Test Championship has most certainly made Test cricket a little more exciting and structured. There are no ‘small’ series’ anymore, every single Test match is an opportunity to earn points that will secure your spot in the final. Last year, New Zealand beat India at Lord’s in what was the first Final of the tournament.  

Debates about whether the final should be a series or just one match between the top two teams on the log have been had and the argument of turning the Final into a series rather than a matching sound fairer. A series really identifies the winner from the loser in a way that a one-match-final doesn’t.

Nonetheless, there are some exciting series’ lined up for the year: 

SA tour of New Zealand (2 matches) 

Sri Lanka Tour of India (2) 

Australia Tour of Pakistan (3) 

Bangladesh Tour of SA (2) 

NZ Tour of England (3) 

SA Tour of England (3)

ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League

The ICC has come up with exciting ideas that have made teams take every match a bit more seriously than they would normally do. South Africa have lost five of their previous 10 matches, won  3 and are placed 9^th on the Super League log standings.  

The upcoming ODI series against India is very important for the Proteas if they want to qualify for the World Cup next year but it won’t be easy playing against the world’s best cricketers in the Indian outfit. This series is one to look forward to as India will be looking to register a series win to counter the loss in the Test format.  

Zimbabwe are taking on Sri Lanka in an ODI series that forms a part of the Super League as well, while Ireland recently finished a series in the West Indies and beat them for the first time in their own backyard.

Few interesting upcoming tours: 

New Zealand Tour of Australia (January-February)

West Indies Tour of India (Feb) 

Afghanistan vs Netherlands (Matches to be played in Doha, Qatar) 

Australia Tour of Pakistan (March-April) 

India Tour of England (July)

Indian Premier League

The 15^th Edition of the IPL will have a variety of changes, from a change in sponsorship, two new teams added and different make-up of teams. The two new teams are Ahmedabad Lion and Lucknow Nawabs. The make-up of teams this season will be a lot more different because of the player retention rule announced last year by the BCCI. Each franchise was allowed to retain a  maximum of four players from their squads and to my surprise, only one South African has been retained by his team, and that is Anrich Nortje.  

The 2022 IPL Mega Auction will be one to keep an eye on for all IPL fans. This will be the best IPL season yet. 

Full 10 teams: 

1. Chennai Super Kings 

2. Delhi Capitals 

3. Punjab Kings 

4. Kolkata Knight Riders 

5. Mumbai Indians 

6. Rajasthan Royals 

7. Royal Challengers Bangalore 

8. Sunrisers Hyderabad 

9. Ahmedabad Lions 

10. Lucknow Nawabs