CWI should think carefully before deciding on English tour

May 13, 2020 Sports

Says Sean Devers

On Friday, Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) are scheduled to set up a conference call to discuss pertinent issues of the West Indies tour of the United Kingdom (UK) with the possibility of playing a Three-Test series set to start in July.

England captain Joe Root and West Indies captain Jason Holder. (Alamy)

Due the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the Caribbean Islands and Guyana on the South American mainland have closed their airports and, in the case of Guyana, their Borders with Brazil, Venezuela and their Eastern Maritime Border with Suriname.
Guyana will consider lifting its lock on June 3 but with the ‘Known’ cases moving from 73 to triple figures in just three days, the lifting of the lockdown and the Curfew from the 6AM to 6PM could be extended.
UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Government has planned a strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic by announcing that some sporting events could take place behind closed-doors for broadcast only and will begin from June 1.
The plans will be reviewed often and postponed if there is a growth in the virus infection rate.
“Allowing cultural and sporting events behind closed doors for broadcast… would provide a much-needed boost to national morale,” said Prime Minister Johnson who was infected by the Virus.
Maybe encouraged by the PM’s remarks, the ECB has come with a plan to play matches at grounds that have Hotels and with no spectators, while the West Indies players, officials and Media will have to participate in a 14-day quarantine.
The ECB reiterates that international cricket remains its priority in the fast-shrinking global cricket window and the best place to play game is in a bio-secure environment, behind closed doors.
Tours to England usually earn CWI more financial remuneration than to any other Country but CWI should think carefully before deciding on the English tour and weigh the balance between Money and safety of the players with UK still seeing more COVID-19 cases every day.
At Friday’s teleconference, CWI President Ricky Skerritt and hopefully West Indies Captain Jason Holder should discus some important aspects of this arrangement, since if the shoe was on the other foot, England would never send its team into an environment of uncertainty with a global pandemic still spreading.
The Caribbean Islands are all sovereign Countries and will not open their airports at the same time, while the‘stay at home’ policy will not allow any practice on a pitch for the players.
Before a team departs for an overseas assignment the players usually participate in a training Camp in Antigua.
Due to this Pandemic, these thing will not happen so players will not be able to perform to their full capacity, while being forced to remain indoors on their arrival in England could see an under prepared team having to compete in English conditions.
The English side will have some extra time to prepare while the West Indians are under quarantine.
What if some senior players, who put their good health above the money, refuse to put themselves at physical and mental risk; would they be dropped from future teams and would the CWI send a depleted team?
The ECB and CWI had a conference call recently to discuss the viability of going ahead with the Test series. Also present on the call were West Indies Captain Jason Holder, Head Coach Phil Simmons, director of cricket Jimmy Adams along with CWI chief executive Johnny Grave.
It is understood that there has been no confirmation of anything and both that Boards have had medical and cricket discussions.
Holder said that he would not want to be rushed into any decision without having addressed all necessary precautions needed in order to travel to England.
“This pandemic has been really, really serious, as we all know, and has claimed quite a few lives throughout the world, and that’s the last thing any of us would really want,” Holder said. “I think we’ve got to play the safety card first before we can even think about resuming our normal lives,” Holder said.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News