CWI wants South Africa for September

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Cricket West Indies (CWI) is targeting September as a possible window for the hosting of South Africa’s rescheduled tour of the Caribbean but said the staging of the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be the final determinant of when the series will be played.

South Africa were expected to play two Tests and five Twenty20 Internationals (T20) from July 23 to August 16 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a global cessation of cricket.

With the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) expected to be staged from August 18 to September 10, CWI hopes South Africa can follow immediately afterwards with the series to be staged in one territory in a biosecure environment.

However, with the Indian Cricket Board finalising dates for the rescheduled IPL, CWI chief executive Johnny Grave said any tour by South Africa would have to accommodate the lucrative T20 tournament, especially with several of their players involved.

“The plan as we are working on now is that the players would come home [from England], they will have the weekend at home,” Grave told Starcom Radio’s Mason and Guests cricket show. “Those that are in the Caribbean Premier League will head down to Trinidad on probably August 3 so it’s a quick turnaround.”

“CPL finishes September 10. We hope very much that South Africa will follow immediately after that.

“Whether we can get the full tour in or we’re going to have to look at a split tour between the Tests and the T20s, we don’t know.

“We obviously hear and read that India are trying to get the IPL towards the back end of September either in India, which I know is their preferred choice, or the UAE, which is their backup choice, but there’s been no announcement on that yet.

“We very much hope that South African will be able to come here in September for either a T20-only tour or a Test-only tour at the very least.

Dependent on IPL

“It will be dependent on the IPL. South Africa have a number of their Test players who have IPL contracts, whereas this current Test team we don’t have any IPL players in.

“We won’t be able to play Test cricket against South Africa during the IPL – Cricket South Africa have made that very clear to us. They’ve got a commitment to their players to allow them to go and play in the IPL.”

Because of COVID-19, CWI have already been forced to postpone several home series. South Africa Women were scheduled to arrive for a One-Day International tour from May 30 to June 10 while South Africa A had been expected to tour from June 10 to July 9 for three four-day ‘Tests’ and five one-dayers.

And with the New Zealand limited-overs tour planned for July 8-19 also put on hold, Grave said CWI remained hopeful over the South Africa series and were continuing their dialogue with Cricket South Africa.