Only three Tests for Windies Down Under

MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia have announced that they will break from tradition and host West Indies for a series of only three Tests — including one at Tasmania’s Bellerive Oval — on their proposed tour Down Under in 2005-06. CA also announced that the annual triangular One-day International series, now entering its 26th year, would be the shortest on record with the hosts, West Indies and Pakistan, the main combatants. The International Cricket Council ten-year Future Tours Programme had forced CA to postpone the Test series by one year, breaking with the tradition of a West Indies tour every four years.

“What CA have essentially done is split our tour in “Roger Brathwaite, chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board, told CMC Sports. “We will play the ODIs at the start of next year and return later in the year to play the Tests. That was the only way they could fit it into their schedule.” The reduction in the West Indies’ Test in Australia is officially an outcome of the ICC’s FTP, a clash of fixtures, and supposedly has nothing to do with their dwindling box-office appeal. ‘West Indies, who have lost 28 of their last 38 overseas Tests, will share the Australia summer of 2005-06 with South Africa, who will also play three Tests.

“It’s a question of scheduling matches these days and what can be fitted,’’ Brathwaite said. “Everyone is grappling with a tight FTP and trying to deal with the best way they can.” It’s not the first time West Indies have only played three Tests in Australia. The visitors won the 1979-80 series 2-0 and drew the subsequent 1981-82 three-match rubber 1-1. Since that 1981-82 series, West Indies have always played five Tests in Australia, culminating on their last tour in 2000-01, when they were whitewashed 5-0 under Jimmy Adams, losing twice by an innings and twice inside three days.

This year, Australia’s five Tests will be split between New Zealand (two) and Pakistan (three) and brings to an end a tradition that began with Clive Lloyd’s side of 1975-76. The ICC FTP has had such an impact on the Australia home schedule that in this year’s tri-nation series each team will play only six preliminary matches, instead of the usual eight, with the competition wrapped up in a little over three weeks.