England set for expanded tour of the West Indies in 2022
Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the cross-format tour on Wednesday.
It is an expanded schedule to what had been planned in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) original Future Tours Programme (FTP). England were initially slated to play three T20Is and two Test matches. They will now play five T20Is and three Tests.
The Test series will see the two teams compete for the newly commissioned "Richards-Botham Trophy" for the first time. The trophy is named after two legends of the game in West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards and England icon Sir Ian Botham.
The T20I series will be the longest series to date between the two teams in the format and provide both sides an opportunity to prepare for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia in October 2022.
"This expansion of next year’s England tour to the Caribbean is welcomed news for West Indies Cricket and for the region’s tourism economy," Ricky Skerritt, CWI President, said.
"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 programs and I am pleased that ECB has been showing so much appetite and goodwill to assist.”
"We are delighted that the ECB have agreed to increase the number of matches in their tour to Caribbean next year," Johnny Grave, CWI CEO, added. "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."
The expanded tour comes after the West Indies toured England last July in what was the first international cricket in more than three months following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"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," Ian Watmore, ECB Chair, said.
"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.”
"A tour to the Caribbean is one of the most iconic for both England players and fans alike," Tom Harrison added. "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."
Fixtures
T20I series1st T20I: Friday, January 28
2nd T20I: Sunday, January 30
3rd T20I: Wednesday, February 2
4th T20I: Friday, February 4
5th T20I: Saturday, February 5
Test series1st Test: Tuesday, March 8 to Saturday, March 12
2nd Test: Wednesday, March 16 to Saturday, March 20
3rd Test: Thursday, March 24 to Monday, March 28