Chief Executive Officer of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Johnny Grave today said the CWI is planning to fulfil its tour commitments with all countries, including Pakistan.
“We intend to fulfil the responsibilities of tours,” he reiterated. However, the CEO added that the board will follow standard procedures.
Grave maintained that the final decision will be taken after consultation from West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and team players.
“Our men and women teams have played in Pakistan earlier,” he said.
Shedding light on future plans, the CEO said that currently, their entire focus is on the T20 World Cup. On September 21, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO Wasim Khan spoke to CWI CEO regarding their December tour.
Grave spoke to Khan about the development of last week — New Zealand’s last-minute pullout and England’s decision to cancel the tour.
Grave said that further discussion with Khan will be held over the weekend.
The CEO maintained that both men and women teams of West Indies will visit Pakistan.
West Indies to visit Pakistan in December
Earlier this week, Grave had said the country’s board was in contact with the PCB about the security arrangements for the team’s December tour to Pakistan.
The West Indies are scheduled to play three one-day internationals (ODIs) and three T20 Internationals in Pakistan.
“I had a call with Wasim Khan, the Pakistan CEO, (on Tuesday) morning, to find out everything that had happened during the past week, on the back of New Zealand abandoning their tour and England’s decision not to go there, and to suggest that we have another call later this week with our operational teams to discuss our women’s and men’s tours that are scheduled for later this year,” Grave said.
“We’ll speak to our Independent Security Consultants, ESI, who we used back in 2018 when we went to Pakistan. We’ve had an initial meeting with WIPA too about it, and we’re going to follow the same process, that we have done in the past.”
“We’re looking at getting our (T20) players to the World Cup and our Test players into Antigua for a camp, and then over to Sri Lanka. We’re not due (in Pakistan) with the men’s team until December 9, so we’ve got a bit of time,” he said.
“We’re going to be finalising travel arrangements in terms of COVID restrictions and quarantines and, in the case of Pakistan, we always have independent security advice by people who are used by all the international boards and the ICC,” he added.
