International cricket in 2021–22

The 2021–22 international cricket season is taking place from September 2021 to April 2022.[1][2] Currently, 29 Tests, 96 One Day Internationals (ODIs), 113 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), 26 Women's One Day Internationals (WODIs), 43 Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), and two women's Test matches are scheduled to be played during this period. Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches are also scheduled to be played in minor 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 are scheduled to be played in October 2021, December 2021, and March 2022 respectively, after they were both postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4] In the final of the Men's T20 World Cup, Australia beat New Zealand by eight wickets to win their first T20 World Cup.[5]

Qualification for the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup is also scheduled to continue, with four more regional qualifiers taking place.[6] In August 2021, England's planned tour of Bangladesh was postponed until 2023 due to the ongoing Covid situation and fixture congestion.[7][8] Later the same month, Afghanistan's planned ODI series against Pakistan was postponed due to the situation in Afghanistan and the logistics in travelling.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11] 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.[12][13] England were also scheduled to tour Pakistan for the first time in sixteen years to play two T20I matches.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16] They hosted a four-match series against Ireland, with Zimbabwe winning the first fixture.[17]

In late November 2021, a new variant of the COVID-19 virus was discovered in southern Africa.[18] 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,[19] with only the first ODI between South Africa and the Netherlands being played.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]