West Indies will play no Tests in their upcoming home series against Pakistan, for which the dates have not yet been finalized.
West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive officer Michael Muirhead yesterday confirmed that there would be no further home Tests for the year.
This means that West Indies would have played a total of four Tests by the end of this year, including two Tests away to New Zealand later this year.
At a Press conference at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain that followed a board meeting – the first since Dave Cameron and Emmanuel Nanthan were elected as WICB president and vice-president respectively last month – Muirhead said he expected the tour to go ahead, but without any Tests.
“It’s fair to say that we haven’t completed concluded negotiations or the final dates, but we’re confident that will be done shortly,” Muirhead told reporters.
“It won’t be a Test series anymore. We’re going to be focusing on five Ond-Day Internationals (ODIs) and two Twenty20s. We have just not finalized with Pakistan, they signing off on the schedule we have been provided.”
Asked how the WICB felt about the number of Tests allocated to the regional team, Cameron said they were “not satisfied”.
“I don’t think we are satisfied, but circumstances have dictated for this year that that’s what we’re able to put in, and hopefully we’re going to able to build on that next year.”
Earlier this month, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf blamed West Indies’ upcoming tri-nation series – also involving India and Sri Lanka – starting in June, for creating difficulty in finding a window for the Tests.
Speaking on other matters, Cameron said the WICB and WIPA were hoping to complete a new Memorandum of Understanding/Collective Bargaining Agreement within the next three months.
“WIPA has indicated that they would like to negotiate and finalize an agreement by July 31. We are committed as well,” Cameron stated.
“We’ve had the makings of negotiations that started. We have agreements, and we will be using those to move things quickly ahead.” (Trinidad Express)
