International cricket in 2021 explained
The 2021 international cricket season took place from May 2021 to September 2021.[1] [2] 13 Tests, 56 One Day Internationals (ODIs), 45 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) were scheduled to be held in this season. The final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship took place in June at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England, with New Zealand beating India by eight wickets.[3] The 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship started in August 2021, with India's tour of England.[4]
Qualification for the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup also started, with Scotland hosting the first regional qualifier group in August.[5] Also in women's international cricket, 18 Women's One Day International (WODI) and 23 Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) matches were scheduled to be played, along with a women's Test match between England and India.[6] Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches were scheduled to be played in minor series involving associate nations.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continued into the 2021 international calendar. In November 2020, the planned Cricket World Cup Super League fixtures between the Netherlands and England were postponed.[7] The series was originally scheduled to be played in May 2021, but it was moved to May 2022 due to the pandemic.[8] In February 2021, round eight of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament, scheduled to take place in Papua New Guinea, was also postponed.[9] In June, the ninth round of the tournament, scheduled to take place in Spain, was postponed until 2022.[10] On 22 July 2021, Cricket Ireland confirmed that their home series against Zimbabwe would be rescheduled due to quarantine requirements needed for the visiting team.[11] Later the same day, the second ODI match between the West Indies and Australia was postponed following a positive COVID-19 case.[12] The Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament originally scheduled to be played in Jersey during September, was rescheduled to take place in Hong Kong in December 2021.[13]
In September 2021, the fifth Test match between England and India was cancelled a few hours before the scheduled start, due to COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp.[14] The match was rescheduled to take place in July 2022, ahead of India's white-ball tour of England.[15]
Season overview
| Men's international tours |
|---|
| Start date | Home team | Away team | Results [Matches] |
|---|
| width=100 | Test | width=100 | ODI | width=100 | T20I |
|---|
| | | — | 1–1 [2] | — |
| | | — | 2–1 [3] | — |
| | | — | 2–1 [3] | — |
| | | 0–1 [2] | — | — |
| | | 0–2 [2] | — | 2–3 [5] |
| | | — | 2–0 [3] | 3–0 [3] |
| | | 0–1 [1] | 0–3 [3] | 1–2 [3] |
| | | — | 3–0 [3] | 2–1 [3] |
| | | — | 1–2 [3] | 4–1 [5] |
| | | — | 1–1 [3] | 0–3 [3] |
| | | — | 1–2 [3] | 2–1 [3] |
| | | 1–1 [2] | — | 0–1 [4] |
| | | — | [3] | [3] |
| | | — | — | 4–1 [5] |
| | | 2–2 [5] | — | — |
| | | — | 1–1 [3] | 3–2 [5] |
| | | — | — | 1–2 [3] |
| Men's international tournaments |
|---|
| Start date | Tournament | Winners |
|---|
|  2021 Papua New Guinea Tri-Nation Series | style="text-align:left" |
| ICC World Test Championship Final | |
|  2021 Scotland Tri-Nation Series | style="text-align:left" |
|  2021 United States Tri-Nation Series | |
| Women's international tours |
|---|
| Start date | Home team | Away team | Results [Matches] |
|---|
| width=50 | WTest | width=50 | WODI | width=50 | WT20I |
|---|
| | | — | — | 3–1 [4] |
| | | 0–0 [1] | 2–1 [3] | 2–1 [3] |
| | | — | 3–2 [5] | 3–0 [3] |
| | | — | — | 2–1 [4] |
| | | — | — | 1–2 [3] |
| | | — | 1–4 [5] | 1–1 [3] |
| | | — | 4–1 [5] | 2–1 [3] | |
Rankings
The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
| ICC Men's Test Team Rankings 13 May 2021[16] [17] |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|
| 1 | | 24 | 2,914 | 121 |
| 2 | | 18 | 2,166 | 120 |
| 3 | | 32 | 3,493 | 109 |
| 4 | | 17 | 1,844 | 108 |
| 5 | | 24 | 2,247 | 94 |
| 6 | | 24 | 2,024 | 84 |
| 7 | | 16 | 1,273 | 80 |
| 8 | | 27 | 2,095 | 78 |
| 9 | | 15 | 694 | 46 |
| 10 | | 10 | 346 | 35 | |
| ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings 3 May 2021[18] [19] |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|
| 1 | | 17 | 2,054 | 121 |
| 2 | | 25 | 2,945 | 118 |
| 3 | | 29 | 3,344 | 115 |
| 4 | | 27 | 3,100 | 115 |
| 5 | | 20 | 2,137 | 107 |
| 6 | | 24 | 2,323 | 97 |
| 7 | | 24 | 2,157 | 90 |
| 8 | | 27 | 2,222 | 82 |
| 9 | | 21 | 1,652 | 79 |
| 10 | | 17 | 1,054 | 62 |
| 11 | | 2 | 99 | 50 |
| 12 | | 18 | 818 | 45 |
| 13 | | 15 | 588 | 39 |
| 14 | | 7 | 240 | 34 |
| 15 | | 5 | 148 | 30 |
| 16 | | 5 | 119 | 24 |
| Only the top 16 teams are shown | |
| ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings 3 May 2021[20] [21] |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|
| 1 | style=text-align:left; | | 22 | 6,088 | 277 |
| 2 | style=text-align:left; | | 25 | 6,811 | 272 |
| 3 | style=text-align:left; | | 23 | 6,048 | 263 |
| 4 | style=text-align:left; | | 30 | 7,818 | 261 |
| 5 | style=text-align:left; | | 23 | 5,930 | 258 |
| 6 | style=text-align:left; | | 19 | 4,703 | 248 |
| 7 | style=text-align:left; | | 12 | 2,826 | 236 |
| 8 | style=text-align:left; | | 13 | 2,957 | 227 |
| 9 | style=text-align:left; | | 13 | 2,921 | 225 |
| 10 | style=text-align:left; | | 18 | 3,992 | 222 |
| 11 | style=text-align:left; | | 19 | 3,628 | 191 |
| 12 | style=text-align:left; | | 18 | 3,388 | 188 |
| 13 | style=text-align:left; | | 19 | 3,556 | 187 |
| 14 | style=text-align:left; | | 11 | 2,035 | 185 |
| 15 | style=text-align:left; | | 11 | 2,023 | 184 |
| 16 | style=text-align:left; | | 14 | 2,501 | 179 |
| Only the top 16 teams are shown | |
| ICC Women's ODI Rankings 11 April 2021[22] |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|
| 1 | | 18 | 2,955 | 164 |
| 2 | | 24 | 2,828 | 118 |
| 3 | | 17 | 1,993 | 117 |
| 4 | | 20 | 2,226 | 111 |
| 5 | | 21 | 1,947 | 93 |
| 6 | | 12 | 1,025 | 85 |
| 7 | | 15 | 1,101 | 73 |
| 8 | | 5 | 306 | 61 |
| 9 | | 11 | 519 | 47 |
| 10 | | 2 | 25 | 13 | |
| ICC Women's T20I Rankings 30 March 2021[23] |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
|---|
| 1 | | 31 | 8,967 | 289 |
| 2 | | 33 | 9,358 | 284 |
| 3 | | 35 | 9,344 | 267 |
| 4 | | 28 | 7,474 | 267 |
| 5 | | 30 | 7,569 | 252 |
| 6 | | 26 | 6,126 | 236 |
| 7 | | 27 | 6,216 | 230 |
| 8 | | 18 | 3,631 | 202 |
| 9 | | 26 | 5,001 | 192 |
| 10 | | 13 | 2,180 | 168 |
| 11 | | 26 | 4,145 | 159 |
| 12 | | 11 | 1,711 | 156 |
| 13 | | 10 | 1,491 | 149 |
| 14 | | 11 | 1,457 | 132 |
| 15 | | 11 | 1,423 | 129 |
| 16 | | 6 | 749 | 125 |
| Only the top 16 teams are shown | |
On-going tournaments
The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
| 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League |
|---|
| League A |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points |
|---|
| 1 | | 5 | 8 |
|
| 2 | | 5 | 8 |
| 3 | | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | | 5 | 2 |
| Full Table | |
| 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League |
|---|
| League B |
|---|
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points |
|---|
| 1 | | 5 | 10 |
|
| 2 | | 5 | 7 |
| 3 | | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | | 5 | 3 |
| 6 | | 5 | 1 |
| Full Table | |
May
Scotland in Netherlands
See main article: Scottish cricket team in the Netherlands in 2021.
| ODI series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| ODI 4288 | 19 May | | | | by 14 runs |
| ODI 4289 | 20 May | | | | by 6 wickets | |
Sri Lanka in Bangladesh
See main article: Sri Lankan cricket team in Bangladesh in 2021. The tour was originally scheduled to take place in December 2020, but was moved to May 2021.
Scotland women in Ireland
See main article: Scotland women's cricket team in Ireland in 2021.
2021 Papua New Guinea Tri-Nation Series
The series was postponed in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]
June
Ireland in Netherlands
See main article: Irish cricket team in the Netherlands in 2021.
New Zealand in England
See main article: New Zealand cricket team in England in 2021.
| Test series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| Test 2422 | 2–6 June | | | | Match drawn |
| Test 2423 | 10–14 June | | | | by 8 wickets | |
South Africa in West Indies
See main article: South African cricket team in the West Indies in 2021.
India women in England
See main article: India women's cricket team in England in 2021.
World Test Championship Final
See main article: 2021 ICC World Test Championship final.
Sri Lanka in England
See main article: Sri Lankan cricket team in England in 2021.
Pakistan women in West Indies
See main article: Pakistan women's cricket team in the West Indies in 2021.
July
Bangladesh in Zimbabwe
See main article: Bangladeshi cricket team in Zimbabwe in 2021.
Pakistan in England
See main article: Pakistani cricket team in England in 2021.
Australia in West Indies
See main article: Australian cricket team in the West Indies in 2021. The second ODI was suspended following a positive test for COVID-19 from a non-playing member of the West Indies team.[25] After no further cases, the second and third ODIs were rescheduled.[26]
South Africa in Ireland
See main article: South African cricket team in Ireland in 2021.
India in Sri Lanka
See main article: Indian cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2021. The second T20I was postponed by one day following a positive test for COVID-19 from an Indian cricketer.[27]
2021 Scotland Tri-Nation Series
The series was postponed in June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]
Netherlands women in Ireland
See main article: Netherlands women's cricket team in Ireland in 2021.
Pakistan in West Indies
See main article: Pakistani cricket team in the West Indies in 2021.
Afghanistan in Sri Lanka
The series was scheduled to start in July 2021, but did not take place. No official updates were issued by either cricket board or the ICC.
August
Australia in Bangladesh
See main article: Australian cricket team in Bangladesh in 2021.
India in England
See main article: Indian cricket team in England in 2021. The fifth Test was cancelled following a number of COVID cases in the Indian camp.[29] In October 2021, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that the Test match would be played in July 2022.[30]
Zimbabwe in Ireland
See main article: Zimbabwean cricket team in Ireland in 2021. The series was postponed in July 2021,[31] with rescheduled dates confirmed in August 2021.[32]
Thailand women in Zimbabwe
See main article: Thailand women's cricket team in South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2021.
| WT20I series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| WT20I 934 | 27 August | | | | by 1 wicket |
| WT20I 936 | 28 August | | | | by 53 runs |
| WT20I 942 | 30 August | | | | by 27 runs | |
South Africa women in West Indies
| WT20I series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| WT20I 943 | 31 August | | | | No result |
| WT20I 945 | 2 September | | | | by 50 runs |
| WT20I 947 | 4 September | | | | by 5 wickets |
| WT20I series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| WODI 1206 | 7 September | | | | by 8 wickets |
| WODI 1207 | 10 September | | | | by 9 wickets |
| WODI 1208 | 13 September | | | | by 8 wickets |
| WODI 1210 | 16 September | | | | by 35 runs |
| WODI 1212 | 19 September | | | | Match tied (won S/O) | |
2021 United States Tri-Nation Series
| 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 – Tri-series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Team 1 | Captain 1 | Team 2 | Captain 2 | Venue | Result |
|---|
| [1st ODI] | August | | | | | | |
| [2nd ODI] | August | | | | | | |
| [3rd ODI] | August | | | | | | |
| [4th ODI] | August | | | | | | |
| [5th ODI] | August | | | | | | |
| [6th ODI] | August | | | | | | | |
September
New Zealand women in England
See main article: New Zealand women's cricket team in England in 2021.
| WT20I series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| WT20I 944 | 1 September | | | | by 46 runs |
| WT20I 946 | 4 September | | | | by 4 wickets |
| WT20I 952 | 9 September | | | | by 4 wickets |
| WODI series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| WODI 1209 | 16 September | | | | by 30 runs |
| WODI 1211 | 19 September | | | | by 13 runs (DLS) |
| WODI 1214 | 21 September | | | | by 3 wickets |
| WODI 1215 | 23 September | | | | by 3 wickets |
| WODI 1218 | 26 September | | | | by 203 runs | |
Zimbabwe in Scotland
See main article: Zimbabwean cricket team in Scotland in 2021.
| T20I series |
|---|
| No. | Date | Home captain | Away captain | Venue | Result |
|---|
| T20I 1276 | 15 September | | | | by 7 runs |
| T20I 1279 | 17 September | | | | by 10 runs |
| T20I 1280 | 19 September | | | | by 6 wickets | |
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Schedule for inaugural World Test Championship announced . International Cricket Council . 11 January 2019.
- Web site: Men's Future Tours Programme . 11 October 2019 . International Cricket Council . 11 July 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190711080228/https://icc-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/ICC/document/2018/06/20/6dc2c8d4-e1a5-4dec-94b4-7121fab3cd7f/ICC_Tours.pdf . dead .
- News: World Test Championship final: New Zealand beat India on sixth day to become world champions . BBC Sport . 23 June 2021.
- Web site: England vs India to kick off the second World Test Championship . ESPN Cricinfo . 29 June 2021.
- Web site: Qualification for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 announced . International Cricket Council . 12 December 2020.
- Web site: A historic Test on the cards as England Women announce home summer schedule . International Cricket Council . 13 April 2021.
- Web site: England won't be going Dutch as Netherlands ODI tour is postponed . ESPN Cricinfo . 27 November 2020.
- Web site: Netherlands vs England in ICC CWC Super League postponed . Royal Dutch Cricket Association . 27 November 2020.
- Web site: Three Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 series postponed . International Cricket Council . 12 February 2021.
- Web site: Cricket World Cup League Two matches postponed as Women's and Men's U19 events move to Spain . Cricket Scotland . 24 June 2021.
- Web site: Statement on Zimbabwe Men's tour . Cricket Ireland . 22 July 2021 . 22 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210722164657/https://www.cricketireland.ie/news/article/statement-on-zimbabwe-mens-tour . dead .
- Web site: 2nd CG Insurance ODI between West Indies and Australia postponed . Cricket West Indies . 22 July 2021.
- Web site: Jersey to no longer host Cricket World Cup qualifier . ITV News . 20 August 2021.
- Web site: Official Statement: Fifth Test between England and India cancelled . England and Wales Cricket Board . 10 September 2021.
- Web site: England-India agree to series decider at Edgbaston after fifth-Test postponement . ESPN Cricinfo . 22 October 2021.
- Web site: Men's Test Team Rankings . International Cricket Council . 13 May 2021.
- Web site: India remain on top of MRF Tyres ICC Men's Test team rankings . International Cricket Council . 13 May 2021.
- Web site: Men's ODI Team Rankings . International Cricket Council . 3 May 2021.
- Web site: New Zealand top-ranked ODI side after annual update to MRF Tyres ICC Men's Team Rankings . International Cricket Council . 3 May 2021.
- Web site: Men's T20I Team Rankings . International Cricket Council . 3 May 2021.
- Web site: New Zealand climb to top of the ODI rankings in annual update . International Cricket Council . 3 May 2021.
- Web site: Women's ODI Rankings . International Cricket Council . 17 April 2021.
- Web site: Women's T20I Rankings . International Cricket Council . 17 April 2021.
- Web site: Covid-19 forces postponement of three men's World Cup League 2 series . ESPN Cricinfo . 12 February 2021.
- Web site: Tour in doubt, second ODI called off due to COVID case . Cricket Australia . 22 July 2021.
- Web site: West Indies-Australia series to resume with new dates . International Cricket Council . 24 July 2021.
- Web site: Indian player tests positive for Covid-19, second T20I against Sri Lanka postponed by a day . ESPN Cricinfo . 27 July 2021.
- Web site: Two ICC Europe Qualifiers Relocated From Scotland to Spain . International Cricket Council . 24 June 2021.
- Web site: Manchester Test postponed indefinitely over Covid-19 fears . ESPN Cricinfo . 10 September 2021.
- Web site: England and India to conclude LV=Insurance Test series next year . England and Wales Cricket Board . 22 October 2021.
- News: Ireland v Zimbabwe: Series to be rescheduled over Covid-19 quarantine requirements . BBC Sport . 22 July 2021.
- Web site: Graham Ford about Ireland Men's prospects, as new dates released for rescheduled Zimbabwe series . Cricket Ireland . 5 August 2021 . 5 August 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210805160902/https://www.cricketireland.ie/news/article/graham-ford-zimbabwe-series-new-dates . dead .
