England expand tour of West Indies as reward for saving 2020 summer
England’s tour of the Caribbean early next year has been expanded to three Tests and five Twenty20 internationals in return for West Indies visiting the UK last summer during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to research by YouGov, each Test in the Caribbean has an estimated economic value of around £18m for the island that plays host and the tour as a whole could be worth nearly £72m to the region through tourism and media rights.
And so with the England and Wales Cricket Board having kept forecast losses of £380m down to £100m last year after West Indies agreed to be the first team to play in a biosecure bubble – followed by visits from Ireland, Pakistan and Australia – as well as sending their women’s side later in the summer, a favour is being returned.
Johnny Grave, chief executive of Cricket West Indies, 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.”
The tour will be split into two parts, with England’s white-ball team visiting in late January and early February albeit likely to be diluted by way of personnel given the trip’s proximity to the end of the as-yet unconfirmed Ashes tour either side of Christmas.
The Test team will then compete for the renamed Richards-Botham Trophy and World Test Championship points in March, with the host islands for all eight international fixtures – shown on BT Sport in the UK – set to be announced by the end of next month.
Ricky Skerritt, the CWI president, said: “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. It has come about because of the special relationship that has been developed between our respective boards.”