CWI to make England call on Thursday

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Cricket West Indies (CWI) directors will meet tomorrow to make a call on whether they will allow their team to tour England this summer for a three-Test series that will be held behind closed doors.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CWI Johnny Graves told Guardian Media Sports on Tuesday that: “Based on the information we have at the moment, everyone is getting increasingly confident that the tour will happen at some point this summer.

“Our next Board of Directors Teleconference on Thursday and if the tour has to take place as currently planned, by the start of June, we would need to have their approval and support by then in order to get the charter flight logistics in place and select the players. It’s great news that the players are now able to begin their cricket training, having been restricted to fitness and conditioning work at home for the past few weeks, as we begin to prepare for defending the Wisden Trophy. We are in the final stages of discussions with the ECB and we expect to hear from them shortly once their bio-secure plans have UK Government and ECB Board support.”

Training has already started for the West Indies Test players in Barbados. Skipper Jason Holder as well as Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Kemar Roach, Shane Dowrich and Shamarh Brooks – all of whom played in the last Test match against Afghanistan in India last December – showed up at Kensington Oval on Monday. Another Test player, Raymon Reifer, also participated.

They were under the guidance of West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick, as well as several coaches from the Barbados Cricket Association.

The initiative to get back to training has been given local government approval, with strict protocols of social distancing, observing the guidelines as set out by the authorities and CWI’s Medical Advisory Committee, and was conducted behind closed doors. Other players across the region are expected to resume training later this week.

The proposed dates for the series that is expected to take place in a bio-safe environment are already out. The opening game takes place on July 8- 12, second Test July 16-20, and third Test, from July 24-28.

West Indies if they agree to tour will be defending the Wisden Trophy which they won over their hosts last year in the Caribbean.