PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Selectors will huddle next week to choose the West Indies squads for the tour of New Zealand (NZ), convenor of selectors, Roger Harper, has confirmed.
The Caribbean side is scheduled to play three Twenty20 (T20) Internationals and two Tests from November 27 to December 15, and Harper said an expanded squad of reserves would be included in keeping with the new protocols amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“There’ll be a T20 International team and of course the Test team and as usual now, we’ll be taking some reserve players on tour which will serve to provide backup players if needed during the tour as well as provide practice players,” Harper told i95FM Sports here.
“What is likely to happen, because of scheduling, is the Test team is likely to go out first and have an early camp, and some of the T20 players who are in the region will travel with that Test team and the T20 players who are involved in the IPL [Indian Premier League] will join the team later.”
The tour is the second one for West Indies, following their historic three-Test series in England last July – the first to be played in a biosecure environment due to COVID-19.
No spectators were allowed at matches and players were placed in an isolated bubble away from the general public for the duration of the tour.
New Zealand has been one of the most successful nations in managing the pandemic with 1500 confirmed infections, only 41 active cases and 25 deaths.