The 2021–22 international cricket season took place from September 2021 to April 2022. 29 Tests, 111 One Day Internationals (ODIs), 112 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), 25 Women's One Day Internationals (WODIs), 40 Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), and two women's Test matches were scheduled to be played during this period. Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches were also scheduled to be played in series involving associate nations.
The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier and the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup were played in October 2021, December 2021, and March 2022 respectively, after they were all postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the final of the Men's T20 World Cup, Australia beat New Zealand by eight wickets to win their first T20 World Cup. In the final of the Women's World Cup, Australia beat England by 71 runs to win their seventh World Cup.
Qualification for the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup also continued, with four more regional qualifiers taking place. In August 2021, England's planned tour of Bangladesh was postponed until 2023 due to the ongoing Covid situation and fixture congestion. Later the same month, Afghanistan's planned ODI series against Pakistan was postponed due to the situation in Afghanistan and the logistics in travelling. In November 2021, Cricket Australia officially postponed the one-off Test match between Australia and Afghanistan, due to the Taliban not supporting women's cricket.
In September 2021, New Zealand arrived in Pakistan to play three ODIs and five T20I matches. It was New Zealand's first tour of Pakistan since 2003. However, on the morning of the first ODI match, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) raised a security alert with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Pakistan Government, which resulted in the entire tour being called off. England were also scheduled to tour Pakistan for the first time in sixteen years to play two T20I matches. However, following New Zealand's tour being called off, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that the men's tour and the women's tour to the country in October 2021 had both been cancelled, due to concerns of travelling to the region.
In October, the Zimbabwe women's cricket team played their first ever WODI matches since they were granted WODI status by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in April 2021. They hosted a four-match series against Ireland, with Zimbabwe winning the first fixture.
In late November 2021, a new variant of the COVID-19 virus was discovered in southern Africa. As a result, the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and the Dutch cricket team's tour of South Africa were called off. Most of the group stage matches in the Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier had taken place, with only the first ODI between South Africa and the Netherlands being played. The eighth round of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 in Namibia was also called off after only two of the scheduled eight matches had been played. In December 2021, the ODI matches between Pakistan and the West Indies were postponed following multiple cases of COVID-19 in the West Indies team and support staff. Later the same month, Ireland's ODI matches against the United States were also cancelled following positive COVID-19 cases in both teams.
In December 2021 and January 2022, the 72nd Ashes series was played. Australia successfully retained the Ashes by winning the first three Test matches. The fourth Test ended in a draw, with Australia winning the fifth Test by 146 runs to win the series 4–0. Later in January 2022, New Zealand's tour of Australia was postponed due to the uncertainty of the quarantine rules for when the New Zealand team returned home. The following month, Australia's tour of New Zealand was called off due no managed isolation quarantine (MIQ) spots available for the Australian team.
On 5 February 2022, India won the 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup to win their fifth title. The following day, in their home series against the West Indies, India's senior men's team played their 1,000th ODI match, becoming the first team to play one thousand matches in that format.
Season overview Men's international tours Start date Home team Away team Results [Matches] Test ODI T20I — — 3–2 — — — 2–1 0–3 — 2–0 — — 2–0 — — — — — 0–2 — — 1–0 — 3–0 0–2 — 0–3 2–0 — — — 0–0 — — — 4–0 — — — 3–0 — 1–1 2–1 3–0 — 1–1 — — — 1–2 — — 2–1 – — 3–0 — 1–0 — 3–2 — — 0–2 — — 3–0 3–0 — — 4–1 1–1 — — — 2–1 1–1 2–0 — 3–0 — 0–1 2–1 0–1 — — 2–0 1–2 — — 3–0 0–0 — 0–2 – Men's international tournaments Start date Tournament Winners 2021 Oman Tri-Nation Series (round 6) style="text-align:left" 2021 Oman Tri-Nation Series (round 7) style="text-align:left" 2021 Summer T20 Bash style="text-align:left" 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 Namibia Tri-Nation Series style="text-align:left" 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series (round 9) style="text-align:left" 2022 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series (round 10) style="text-align:left" 2022 Papua New Guinea Tri-Nation Series (round 11) style="text-align:left"
Women's international tours Start date Home team Away team Results [Matches] WTest WODI WT20I 0–0 2–1 2–0 — 1–3 — — — 0–3 — — 0–3 — 0–0 3–0 1–0 — 2–1 — — 4–1 1–0 Women's international tournaments Start date Tournament Winners 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier style="text-align:left" colspan=2 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup
Rankings
The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
ICC Men's Test Team Rankings 25 August 2021 Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1 22 2,764 126 2 25 2,987 119 3 17 1,844 108 4 35 3,753 107 5 27 2,481 92 6 19 1,675 88 7 30 2,396 80 8 27 2,095 78 9 16 779 49 10 11 342 31
ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings 25 September 2021 Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1 17 2,054 121 2 32 3,793 119 3 28 3,244 116 4 32 3,624 113 5 25 2,459 98 6 27 2,524 93 7 30 2,740 91 8 30 2,523 84 9 32 2,657 83 10 17 1,054 62 11 7 336 48 12 25 1,145 46 13 11 435 40 14 8 308 39 15 20 764 38 16 11 330 30Only the top 16 teams are shown
ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings 20 September 2021 Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1 28 7,786 278 2 28 7,456 266 3 34 8,883 261 4 28 7,192 257 5 30 7,489 250 6 26 6,259 241 7 33 7,923 240 8 12 2,826 236 9 29 6,792 234 10 22 5,048 229 11 30 5,751 192 12 26 4,930 190 13 19 3,556 187 14 11 2,023 184 15 14 2,553 182 16 14 2,501 179Only the top 16 teams are shown
ICC Women's ODI Rankings 27 September 2021 Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1 21 3,379 161 2 25 2,983 119 3 29 3,390 117 4 26 2,934 113 5 26 2,392 92 6 22 1,872 85 7 20 1,496 75 8 5 306 61 9 11 519 47 10 2 25 13
ICC Women's T20I Rankings 25 September 2021 Rank Team Matches Points Rating 1 31 8,967 289 2 39 11,060 284 3 38 10,146 267 4 31 8,275 267 5 32 8,048 252 6 31 7,468 241 7 30 6,778 226 8 18 3,631 202 9 26 5,001 192 10 24 3,948 165 11 29 4,667 161 12 21 3,287 157 13 18 2,754 153 14 11 1,457 132 15 11 1,423 129 16 6 749 125Only the top 16 teams are shown
On-going tournaments The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship Rank Team Series 1 1* 54.17% 2 1 50.00% 3 1 50.00% 4 1* 29.17%Full Table
2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League Rank Team Matches Points 1 15 95 2 12 80 3 9 60 4 15 50 5 9 49 6 15 42 7 9 40 8 9 40 9 9 34 10 3 30 11 3 30 12 9 25 13 3 20Full Table
2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 Rank Team Matches Points 1 10 16 2 12 12 3 8 9 4 7 8 5 7 7 6 4 4 7 8 0Full Table
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 2Full 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 1Full Table
September New Zealand in Bangladesh
T20I series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result T20I 1243 1 September Mahmudullah Tom Latham Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka by 7 wickets T20I 1251 3 September Mahmudullah Tom Latham Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka by 4 runs T20I 1259 5 September Mahmudullah Tom Latham Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka by 52 runs T20I 1260 8 September Mahmudullah Tom Latham Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka by 6 wickets T20I 1263 10 September Mahmudullah Tom Latham Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka by 27 runs
Afghanistan in Pakistan
The tour was postponed due to the situation in Afghanistan, the logistics in travelling, and for the welfare of the team. 2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League – ODI series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result [1st ODI] 1 September Hashmatullah Shahidi [2nd ODI] 3 September Hashmatullah Shahidi [3rd ODI] 5 September Hashmatullah Shahidi
South Africa in Sri Lanka
2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League – ODI series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result ODI 4314 2 September Dasun Shanaka Temba Bavuma R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 14 runs ODI 4315 4 September Dasun Shanaka Keshav Maharaj R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 67 runs (DLS) ODI 4318 7 September Dasun Shanaka Keshav Maharaj R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 78 runsT20I series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result T20I 1265 10 September Dasun Shanaka Keshav Maharaj R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 28 runs T20I 1270 12 September Dasun Shanaka Keshav Maharaj R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 9 wickets T20I 1273 14 September Dasun Shanaka Keshav Maharaj R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo by 10 wickets
Papua New Guinea vs United States in Oman
ODI series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result ODI 4316 6 September Saurabh Netravalkar Assad Vala Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat by 7 wickets ODI 4320 9 September Saurabh Netravalkar Assad Vala Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 134 runs
Papua New Guinea vs Nepal in Oman
ODI series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result ODI 4317 7 September Gyanendra Malla Assad Vala Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat by 2 wickets ODI 4322 10 September Gyanendra Malla Assad Vala Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 151 runs
2021 Oman Tri-Nation Series (round 6)
2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 – Tri-series No. Date Team 1 Captain 1 Team 2 Captain 2 Venue Result ODI 4324 13 September Gyanendra Malla Saurabh Netravalkar Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 5 wickets ODI 4325 14 September Zeeshan Maqsood Gyanendra Malla Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 5 wickets ODI 4326 16 September Zeeshan Maqsood Saurabh Netravalkar Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 4 wickets ODI 4327 17 September Gyanendra Malla Saurabh Netravalkar Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 6 wickets ODI 4328 19 September Zeeshan Maqsood Gyanendra Malla Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 7 wickets ODI 4329 20 September Zeeshan Maqsood Saurabh Netravalkar Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat by 72 runs
New Zealand in Pakistan
The tour was called off ahead of the first ODI due to security concerns. ODI series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result ODI 4326a 17 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 2nd ODI 19 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 3rd ODI 21 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi T20I series No. Date Home captain Away captain Venue Result 1st T20I 25 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 2nd T20I 26 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 3rd T20I 29 September Babar Azam Tom Latham Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 4th T20I 1 October Babar Azam Tom Latham Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 5th T20I 3 October Babar Azam Tom Latham Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
India women in Australia