The Commonwealth Games Federation has decided to remove a number of disciplines, including cricket, from the upcoming edition of the Commonwealth Games set to be staged in Glasgow, Scotland in 2026. After being removed from the event following the 1998 Commonwealth Games edition in Kuala Lumpur, cricket had only just made a comeback in 2022 in the form of a Women’s T20 competition. Other sports including field hockey, table tennis, squash, badminton, shooting, and wrestling among many others have also been axed making the upcoming CWG edition limited to only ten sports.
Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Katie Sadleir stated that the decision has been taken to cut the costs of hosting the global event.
“The 2026 Games will be a bridge to the Commonwealth Games of tomorrow – an exciting first step in our journey to reset and redefine the Games as a truly collaborative, flexible, and sustainable model for the future that minimizes costs, reduces the environmental footprint, and enhances social impact – in doing so increasing the scope of countries capable of hosting.”
For almost a year, the 2026 Commonwealth Games were without a host after the Australian state, Victoria, gave up the hosting rights of the event in July 2023. Reportedly, the state was not willing to cover the event’s costs which exceeded a whopping AUD 7 Billion for an event that would last less than a fortnight. However, in September of this year, Scotland agreed to host a curtailed version of the CWG, removing many sports.
Cricket has only featured twice in the Commonwealth Games. The sport made its debut in the games in 1998 when the South African men’s team bagged the gold in the 50-over competition in Malaysia. The silver medal was awarded to the runners-up, Australia, while the bronze ended with the New Zealand team. In 2022, the Australian women’s team clinched the gold medal in England, when cricket returned to commonwealth games after nearly three decades.
But despite this setback, cricket fans have another global event to be excited about. Cricket will be returning to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 after a long gap of 128 years. Both men’s and women’s teams are set to be featured in the event, which will be played in the T20I format. All the cricket matches for the event will be held in New York. Niccolo Campriani, the director of the LA Local Organising Committee (LALOG), said that cricket’s inclusion in the global event will result in the influx of billions of fans that follow the sport.
“We are thrilled to welcome the world’s second-most popular sport with an estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide. Some of you might be wondering why in Los Angeles. Well, the commitment to grow cricket in the US is real, and it’s already happening with the launch of the very first Major League Cricket season earlier this year, which exceeded all expectations. And the [men’s] T20 World Cup in 2024 coming to US and West Indies.”
The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be played from July 23 to Aug 2 in Glasgow, Scotland. A Men’s T20 World Cup is also slated to be played from February to March 2026.
