"It is a very different mindset here in the Caribbean in terms of going to England, which is seen as one of the eyes of the storm of this virus" - Johnny Grave
Sunday 17 May 2020 20:02, UK
West Indies' player safety will not be compromised this summer, despite the lure of playing England, says WICB chief executive Johnny Grave.
The teams were due to contest a three-Test series from June but that has now been put back until at least July - and may have to be played behind closed doors at bio-secure venues - due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Grave told The Cricket Show that West Indies would want a minimum of four weeks in the UK to prepare for the first Test - two of which could be in quarantine if the squad was based at a place where it could train - but that first he'd need to be 100 per cent sure that travelling to England didn't put any player at unnecessary risk.
"We've had, as you can imagine, lots of conversations individually and - as of the start of this month - we started really a much wider discussion with the ECB over what a tour might look like," said Grave, talking from lockdown in Antigua.
"Certainly, from our point of view, it's really just listening to those ECB plans both from Steve Elworthy, from a logistics and venue point of view, and professor Nick Peirce from a medical point of view.
"So, we're in good dialogue with the ECB and ultimately we're waiting to hear from them and clearly they need to get UK Government approval before we can seriously contemplate a tour to the UK."
While the United Kingdom's death toll from COVID-19 now tops 40,000 - the worst in Europe and the second in the world behind the United States - the story is very different in the Caribbean, where the figure is reported to be below 100.
Grave said such a stark contrast would naturally make players think twice about travelling.
"I think you're right in terms of global news - there are relatively few cases here in the Caribbean, therefore, we're all relatively safe from a coronavirus point of view," he said.
"Just in terms of sheer numbers of deaths in the UK, obviously over 30,000 people is an enormous number but in population terms here in the Caribbean for people who are based and who have lived most of their lives on the smaller islands, you are talking about 40-50 per cent of the total populations.
"It is a very different mindset here in terms of going to what is 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."
While the ECB faces a range of complex logistical challenges relating to venue safety, including on-site testing of players and staff, one of the first difficulties facing the WICB is how to get their players to England.
"At the moment there's no regional travel between the main airlines so first up we need to think through where the pool of players would come from across the Caribbean," explained Grave.
"We'd expect at least seven or eight countries to make up the Test squad. I don't think commercial flying is going to be appropriate here from the medical advice that we've been getting so we're looking at chartering planes within the Caribbean and then ultimately a trans-Atlantic charter to get over to England."
Reacting to Grave's comments on The Cricket Show, Michael Atherton referred to any decision from the West Indies and/or Pakistan to tour England this summer as 'a remarkable act of generosity'.
"[Ashley Giles talked] about not having England players stuck in a hotel for seven, eight, nine weeks; we're asking these touring teams to do exactly that," said Atherton.
"Johnny Grave is talking about four weeks preparation time, two weeks of which in quarantine, then three back-to-back Tests, then a spell in quarantine again afterwards, before they get back home to their loved ones.
"The West Indies don't get anything out of this tour. They're doing it really because the ECB are in desperate straights and require cricket for broadcast purposes in order to try and save some money this year.
"It would be a remarkable act of generosity on West Indies and Pakistan players' behalf, if they come, and shouldn't be forgotten down the line, given some of the disparities [between the boards] that Johnny rightly touched on in his interview."
Signing off, Atherton was asked whether Pakistan could even use a decision use a decision to tour England as leverage to get them back playing in Pakistan in the near future.
"In 2021, they're looking at England coming, and Australia. I'm sure that will be on the wish list somewhere down the line."