Grave ready to host South Africa

Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave says that he is still targeting a South Africa tour of the Caribbean this year despite obstacles posed by the current pandemic as well as South Africa's own domestic challenges.

The tour had to be postponed twice last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and there were reported concerns earlier in March about playing in Jamaica because of the spike in cases. Additionally, the latest challenge to the tour stems from a dispute between the South African government and Cricket South Africa in adopting a new constitution for the body.

Positive developments

However, Grave said that there were some positive developments and he believes that the tour would still proceed as planned.

"We are very confident that South Africa will come," Grave told STAR Sports. "We've had also calls in the last week. We have got full flights and deposits paid. Where they go is the question but they are coming into the region and we will charter them along with our players into the respective regions."

After receiving clearance from the Office of Disaster, Preparedness and Emergency Management to host international matches, Jamaica could be in line to host West Indies matches this year against either the Proteas, Australia or Pakistan. Grave said that in light of the new developments, they would be reaching out to the respective agencies in order to facilitate the resumption of international cricket on the island.

"I think within the next week or so we will have more certainty not just who we are playing, when we are playing but where we are playing," Grave said. Jamaica last hosted a West Indies match in 2019 as part of India's tour of the West Indies when Sabina Park was the venue for the second Test between the two teams.

West Indies hosted Sri Lanka last March in Antigua for three T20's, three on-day internationals and two Test matches, marking the first home series since January 2020. All matches were played in a biosecure environment with no fans in attendance.