Windies ‘will bring strong Test side’

WEST Indies chief executive Johnny Grave would expect to send a full-strength side if the tour of England goes ahead, but admits the UK’s status as ‘one of the eyes of the storm’ in the coronavirus pandemic is a hurdle.

The Test series has already been delayed due to the sporting lockdown but there is an open line of dialogue between the two boards around the possibility of return to action in July.

For that to happen the ECB would need not only a governmental green light but also the agreement of the Caribbean cricketers selected to travel. Grave believes a firstchoice squad would likely make themselves available if the health advice allowed the trip to take place, but also hinted that the Covid-19 death rate here was a concern.

“Ultimately cricketers want to play cricket, it’s hugely important to their livelihoods,” Grave said.

“Hopefully the lure of playing England will kick in, as long as we can be certain it is safe.

“We’ll give players the choice but I don’t expect to be taking a weakened team to England.

“There are relatively few cases here in the Caribbean. Just in terms of sheer numbers of deaths in the UK, over

30,000 people is an enormous number...it is a seen as one of the eyes of the storm of this virus. So we’re going to have to be very, very careful that first up we take the medical advice that the ECB give us and secondly that we’re 100 per cent sure that we’re not putting any player’s health at risk before we can contemplate the tour taking place.”