England announce expanded tour of the West Indies in early 2022
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Cricket West Indies (CWI) have decided to add more games to their already-planned series in early 2022. Instead of playing three T20I matches in January 2022, five games in the shortest format have now been scheduled.
England will return to the Caribbean again in March to play three Tests instead of the initially planned two-match series.
CWI president Ricky Skerritt seemed pleased with the development and credited the cordial relationship between the two cricket boards as the reason behind the expanded tour.
“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 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," Skerritt said.
Skerritt also revealed that discussions are ongoing with the ECB to help CWI with its development programs.
"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,” he added.
CWI backed ECB in tough times
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, things seemed ominous for cricket. But at the time, the CWI supported the ECB's bold initiative to host international matches.
Ian Watmore, Chair, England and Wales Cricket Board, mentioned that they appreciated the gesture from CWI during the tough times and hence decided to extend the already-planned tour.
"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. 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,” Ian Watmore said.
England tour of West Indies, 2022: Full Schedule
Friday, January 28: 1st T20 International
Sunday, January 30: 2nd T20 International
Wednesday, February 2: 3rd T20 International
Friday, February 4: 4th T20 International
Saturday, February 5: 5th T20 International
Tuesday, March 1 to Friday, March 4: warm-up match
Tuesday, March 8 to Saturday, March 12: 1st Test Match
Wednesday, March 16 to Saturday, March 20: 2nd Test Match
Thursday, March 24 to Monday, March 28: 3rd Test Match
*The venues for these games will be announced in a few weeks time.