A packed domestic programme has precluded the West Indies from having more than one first-class match outside the Tests on their forthcoming tour of Australia.
There is a gap of eight days between the end of the second Test in Adelaide on December 8 and the start of the third in Perth on December 16 but there is no chance of fitting in a match in that period since all six Australian state teams are engaged in the Sheffield Shield competition.
Tasmania play Western Australia in Hobart December 8-11, Victoria take on South Australia in Melbourne December 10-13 and Queensland are at home to New South Wales in Brisbane December 11-14. It means that the November 18-21 fixture against Queensland at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane leading into the first Test at the Gabba November 26-30 is the only match apart from the three Tests.
“That is what Cricket Australia asked for,” West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief cricket operations officer Tony Howard said yesterday. “Once on the ground, (manager) Joel Garner will seek to organise internal training and whatever else he deems appropriate in that time.
“When I was manager of the team there in 2005 we did a lot of preparation work at the Allan Border Field (where the Australian Centre of Excellence is located) and it benefited the team,” Howard said. “I imagine the same thing will obtain on this occasion.” It is the first time the West Indies have been restricted to a single first-class match on an Australian tour. In 2005, they played two matches against state teams, Queensland prior to the first Test and Victoria between the first and second Tests.
When the West Indies return in February for five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals, they will have one warm-up match, the traditional fixture against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on February 4.
