Cricket To Resume As England Optimistic About Hosting West Indies In July

The England Cricket Board (ECB) are hopeful about hosting the West Indies for three-Test series in July but the touring party have let their thoughts known about the series and they are quite clearly ‘nervous’. England are due to host the West Indies for three-match Test series originally slated to get underway for June 4.

But due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the ECB has suspended its competitive cricket till July 1. However, a recent meeting between both the board which included their respective Test captains Joe Root and Jason Holder, had positive talks about cricket resuming with the series this summer.

ECB hopeful of hosting the series with safety first and foremost priority

ECB are hopeful of hosting the series against the West Indies with safety first and foremost priority. Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive Johnny Grave has said that though ECB are a long way to get approval from their government it is certain that cricket under precautionary measure might work.

“We have to be absolutely clear it’s safe first and foremost,” he added. “The ECB have got a long way to go to get government approval to be absolutely certain that bio-secure cricket will work.

“The players would be very much in a bubble. We said to the ECB we’d want four weeks of preparation before the first Test. We’re probably looking at three back-to-back Test matches.

“It would be seven weeks of very much training at the ground, staying at the ground and very much being isolated within that hotel environment.”

Cricket West Indies will not coerce players for England tour

CWI chief executive has however made it clear that it will not pressurize any of its players for the England tour. In the United Kingdom the novel coronavirus pandemic situation is far from controlled and thus the visiting team board has decided against forcing their players.

“There will be no coercing players into this tour,” Grave told the BBC.

“If you grow up in a country where the population might only be 60,000 or 70,000 people, to be thinking the UK has had over 30,000 deaths is a massive figure,” he added.

It the tour gets underway it will mark the resumption of cricket after it was been brought to a halt due to the pandemic.