BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – England will arrive in the Caribbean early next year for a lucrative series of Twenty20 Internationals and Tests, a tour which Cricket West Indies (CWI) said yesterday could benefit the region to the tune of US$100 million.
While no venues were announced, England and West Indies are set to clash in five T20 Internationals from January 28 to February 5, with three Tests to follow from March 8-28 where the two teams will clash for the first-ever Richards-Botham Trophy, formerly the Wisden Trophy.
Originally, the tour was expected to be two Tests and three T20Is only but CWI chief executive, Johnny Grave, said the regional governing body had managed to successfully negotiate an expanded itinerary.
“We are delighted that the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) have agreed to increase the number of matches in their tour to Caribbean next year,” Grave said.
“An England tour to the West Indies is a special event, so by adding a third Test match and two T20Is to the original schedule it will enable more fans to watch the teams do battle and afford more of our countries the opportunity to host matches.”
CWI president, Ricky Skerritt, who had announced the tour during a recent interview, said the increase in the number of matches would provide a boost to the region’s tourism industry.
Caribbean countries have been hard hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic, with widespread national lockdowns leading to massive declines in their tourism-based economies.
“This expansion of next year’s England tour to the Caribbean is welcome news for West Indies cricket and for the region’s tourism economy,” said Skerritt, a former Tourism Minister in St Kitts.
“It has come about because of the special relationship that has been developed between our respective boards and we are looking forward to working with ECB Chair Ian Watmore, and CEO Tom Harrison, to expand our partnership even further into new areas of cooperation and support.
“We have already begun discussions on how the ECB can help us in our development programmes and I am pleased that ECB has been showing so much appetite and goodwill to assist.”
Harrison said the ECB was excited by the prospects of the expanded tour.
“A tour to the Caribbean is one of the most iconic for both England players and fans alike. So, we are delighted to confirm that our England men’s team will play two additional IT20s and one more Test match as part of their planned tours in January and March respectively,” he said.
“The three-Test match series will form part of the next ICC World Test Championship, whilst the additional IT20s will provide our England men’s team with valuable preparation ahead of the ICC World T20, which takes place in Australia later that year.”
Watmore praised CWI for its commitment to touring England last year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and said the ECB had been happy to also show its support for West Indies cricket in return.
“We hugely appreciated the support of Cricket West Indies, and all its men’s and women’s players, in helping us host a full season of international cricket in the summer of 2020,” Watmore said in reference to the historic men’s three-Test tour and the women’s five-match T20 International series last year.
“Following the conclusion of those tours to England we have been in discussions with CWI to understand how we can best support them moving forward and one way was to extend our existing England men’s tours to the Caribbean in 2022.”
According to CWI’s independent research, each England Test creates an economic impact of between US$20-25 million for host countries, with T20 Internationals triggering around US$4 million per game.
